The Ministry of Education will, before the end of July 2026, convene a national conference to discuss the growing indiscipline in senior high schools (SHSs) and propose measures to address the problem.
The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, said this in a radio interview monitored by Graphic Online on Accra-based Joy FM on Monday, morning [June 22, 2026].
He said the conference would bring together stakeholders, including civil society organisations, religious bodies, parents, academics and educationists, to identify the causes of indiscipline in schools and recommend measures to deal with the situation.
"Before the end of July this year we will convene a major national conference on stemming the growing indiscipline in our senior high schools across the country," Mr Iddrisu said.
"We intend to bring together civil society, academia, the church, the Muslim community, parents and educationists to give us a roadmap on how to deal with it, identify the root causes, and then deal decisively with it," he added.
Mr Iddrisu, who is also the Member of Parliament for Tamale South, said the venue for the conference had not yet been decided, with Senchi in the Eastern Region and Kumasi being considered.
The announcement follows an earlier statement by the Minister on June 10, 2026, during a visit to examination centres for the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), where he said the Ministry of Education intended to organise a stakeholder conference in July. At the time, Kumasi and Sunyani were under consideration as possible venues.
Concern
The conference comes at a time when cases of violence and indiscipline in some senior high schools have become a matter of public concern.
In the past two years, some schools have recorded violent clashes involving knives, machetes and locally manufactured weapons, resulting in injuries, damage to property, and, in some instances, temporary school closures.
Graduation directive
Mr Iddrisu's comment came a day after the Ministry of Education directed the GES to suspend senior high school graduation ceremonies pending a review of the guidelines governing such events.
Speaking on the issue, Mr Iddrisu said the growing practice formed part of the wider issues of indiscipline the conference would examine.
"It is a very dangerous precedent to train our young people to want to aspire to wealth and the characteristics of wealth that would be a distraction for our country's future," he said.
"The school is not just an environment where you acquire literacy and numeracy but character is important in producing responsible citizens."
Mr Iddrisu said parents who wished to present expensive gifts to their children should do so at home instead of on school premises.
"You can do that at home. You don't need to do that in school," he said.
He said the directive applied to both public and private schools and added that the School Inspectorate Directorate had been tasked with enforcing it.
