Students warned of health implications of tattoos

School authorities have been advised to counsel students on the health risks associated with tattooing their bodies.
The Director, Basic Education of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Stephen Adu, who gave the advice said tattooing which is now in vogue among students, should be seen as a social problem and handled as such.

“Just as we did with occultism and homosexuality when they started, school authorities need to intensify education on the health hazards of tattoos,” he advised.

He, however, cautioned school authorities not to sack students with tattoos on their bodies because the GES did not have a policy on it yet.

“You can only advise such students on the likely health risks and also, inform their parents about what they have done,” he pointed out.

Mr Adu, who was speaking in a telephone interview with the Junior Graphic, added that the GES could not immediately initiate a policy banning students from tattooing their bodies because of reported incidents of students doing that.

On the recommended mode of body inspection in schools, the Director of Basic Education explained that by the GES regulations, school authorities could only inspect features on the bodies of students and not their private parts because students also had rights to uphold.

It would be recalled that a few weeks ago, 12 students of the T.I. Ahmadiyya SHS at Fomena in the Adansi North District of the Ashanti Region were sent home to remove tattoos on their bodies.

The 12, all girls had since returned to school. They were allegedly found to have tattooed the names of their boyfriends on various parts of their bodies which made the authorities react swiftly by ordering them to go home and remove them before returning to school.

By Augustina Tawiah/Junior Graphic/Ghana