Catholic Bishops demand return to GES council, link exclusion to indiscipline in schools

The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC) has expressed concern over the removal of its representative from the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council, saying the development has contributed to the growing challenge of indiscipline and immorality in Senior High Schools (SHSs).

The Conference said it was unfortunate that, despite being the second-largest provider of formal education in Ghana, the Catholic Church was increasingly being sidelined from key decision-making processes within the education sector.

President of the GCBC, Most Reverend Matthew Gyamfi, raised the concern when the Conference met Parliament’s Chieftaincy, Culture and Religious Affairs Committee.

He described the exclusion of the Church from the GES Council as “unfortunate and saddening”, stressing that the Catholic Church had made significant contributions to the development of education in the country and therefore deserved a voice in decisions affecting the sector.

“Where decisions are made on education, we who contributed towards education are not there,” Most Rev. Gyamfi said.

He questioned why authorities continued to express concern about indiscipline in schools while sidelining institutions whose core mandate included the promotion of discipline, morality and character formation.

“Now we talk about indiscipline in schools as if we do not know why there is indiscipline. We know it,” he stated.

According to him, the Church’s exclusion from education-related decision-making undermined efforts to address indiscipline and moral challenges confronting schools.

“If the one whose core is to instil discipline and morality into people is eliminated and not given the right to do this, then why ask why there is indiscipline and immorality in the schools?” he asked.

The Catholic Church has historically played a significant role in Ghana’s education sector, establishing and managing numerous schools across the country.

The Conference therefore urged the relevant authorities to recognise the contribution of faith-based institutions and ensure their meaningful participation in policy formulation and decision-making processes concerning education.

It maintained that collaboration between the state and faith-based education providers was essential to addressing the challenges confronting the education sector, particularly indiscipline, moral decadence and declining standards of conduct among students.