Mrs Patricia Brago Gyamfi, Eastern Regional Girls Education Officer, has announced that the Ghana Education Service (GES) has introduced a "Safe Schools' concept across all public and private schools in Koforidua, to check corporal punishments in schools.

The concept which seeks to sensitize teachers on the negative effects of caning would also educate teachers and students on the need to desist from bullying, sexual harassment and verbally abusing students in schools.

She disclose this at a Regional consultation Forum for the compilation of Ghana's report on the Convention on the Rights of Children to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, organized by the Department of Children under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, in Koforidua.

Mrs Gyamfi indicated that caning and all forms of bullying as well as verbal assaults are some of the punishments that would not be taken kindly from any teacher.
The forum was to inform stakeholders about the concept so far and solicit input from them and some students.

Participants were drawn from government institutions that implement child welfare policies, non-governmental organisations that focused on children, opinion, and traditional leaders as well as children.

Mrs Florence Ayisi Quartey, Acting Director of the Department of Children, speaking at the opening ceremony, said child rights and protection was a responsibility of parents and guardians and the state as a whole and added that the report would further strengthen the welfare of the Ghanaian child.
She explained that the scripture "spare the rod and spoil the child" which was often used in defence of abusing children was a wrong premise, adding that there is a difference between correction and punishment. She observed that the child rights welfare was not anything foreign because, in formulating the laws to safeguard the interest of children, "our societal values and norms, were factored into it to ensure that we all, as a people can identify with the provisions".

Dr Sylvester Kyei-Gyamfi, Head of Research and Advocacy, Department of Children, said the rights of children did not give total independence to children to do what they wanted, but it was to check the excesses of child abuse on the part of parents, society, and the state in general and as well enjoins children to submit to guidance and discipline".

He said the first step to protecting the child was to consider the interests of the child and urged all, both in schools and at home, to stop bullying children and learn to guide and supervise them in the right direction for a better future.

In a presentation, some of the children appealed to the ministry to make it a law for parents to listen to them especially when making decisions that affected them and they cited the selection of schools and programs where parents often go against their choices.