The Daily Graphic reported yesterday that police in Central Region had initiated investigation for possible prosecution in a case in which a student of Adisadel College is seen bullying a fellow student in a viral video. The action of the police, according to the state-owned newspaper report, is on the advice of the Office of the Attorney-General after the issue became public.
The report went further to explain that the police had already visited the school premises as part of the investigation, with a Principal State Attorney from the Office of the Attorney-General, Vincent Nyinaku, who is in charge in the Central Region.
Joy FM also reported on the same day that the Attorney General (AG), Godfred Dame, had initiated steps to prosecute the student seen in a viral video choking and abusing his colleague.
According to the radio station, its sources had revealed that the Attorney General, on Tuesday, directed his Regional Director to collaborate with the Ghana Police Service and begin investigations into the matter. As at the time of putting this editorial together, the AG had not come out to deny the story that had been put in the public domain by the two respected media houses.
This means that the AG is, indeed, making the move to get the student, who had already been dismissed, prosecuted for the crime he reportedly committed, and The Chronicle congratulates him for that.
Bullying has become part and parcel of school life. In fact, it is said to help toughen students so that they can fit into any society when they become adults. But what is seen cannot be said to be the usual bullying we see in schools. It is simply a criminal conduct that was exhibited by the senior student. That is why we stated in this column yesterday that bullying in schools is now a pressing issue that must be addressed.
The Chronicle is grateful to God that after the senior student had held the neck of his junior colleague for some minutes in a stranglehold, and later hit his face against the metal bunk bed it did not affect the eyes of the poor boy. That would have been permanent damage inflicted on the student.
No parent who has seen this viral video would be happy, and that is why The Chronicle applauds the AG for the swift response to prosecute the offender. At Senior High School Form 3 (SHS 3), the offender, we believe, is not a minor, but an adult who must be made to take full responsibility for his action.
Dismissing or suspending him, in our opinion, will not be deterrent enough if the authorities want to weed out such criminal conducts among the seniors in our Senior High Schools. This is the reason why we are insisting on the prosecution to put the fear of God in any student who will contemplate harming his or her colleague in the name of bullying in future.
It is the hope of The Chronicle that heads of other Senior High Schools will take a cue from what has happened at Adisadel College and put in place stringent disciplinary measures to prevent similar incidents from happening.
