Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies (IFEST), Dr Peter Anti, has appealed for the immediate relocation of students from conflict-ridden Bawku and Nalerigu.
His call comes as final-year students prepare for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) slated to commence on August 5, 2025.
This follows the tragic killings of students at Nalerigu Senior High School (SHS) and Bawku SHS, which have cast a dark shadow over the upcoming exams.
Speaking on the Joy News AM Show today, July 29, Dr Anti emphasised the critical need for mental stability for these students to perform adequately in the high-stakes examination.
Dr Anti’s core recommendation is clear.
Students from affected areas should be swiftly moved to safer, more stable environments where they can focus solely on their studies.
“If there are other secondary schools where there’s relative stability and there’s peace there… I think that within this week, the GES [Ghana Education Service] and Minister of Education can work and then move them there.”
He highlighted that with Form One and Form Two students likely in their homes, there should be available space in other schools.
“This should be done as early as possible so that the students will now acquaint themselves with the environment. Then their teachers can also go there and then engage them, and then they write the exams there.”
The alternative, he warned, is unacceptable and dangerous.
“It should never happen that these students will go back to their schools, and then they are writing exams and people are holding guns protecting them. What will happen after they’ve written the exams and they are going home? Anything can happen. So we need to protect them. We need to act now.
The government, recognising the severity of the situation, has already commenced emergency evacuation of students from Bawku, Nalerigu, and surrounding communities.
A curfew, effective July 27, 2025, from 2 PM to 6 AM, has been imposed on Nalerigu and its environs to facilitate this evacuation and restore calm.
Minister of State for Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, confirmed the evacuation efforts, stating that the curfew “is intended to create an environment conducive to the evacuation of all students in various educational institutions in affected areas, some of whom have been unfortunately targeted in the conflict.”
Dr Anti’s comments reinforce the need for robust follow-through on these evacuations, emphasising that simply moving students out is not enough; their academic stability must be secured.
Ghana’s “Education in Emergency Contingency Plan (2023-2026)”, developed by the Ministry of Education and GES, outlines strategies for continuous education during crises, including alternative learning spaces, remote learning, and crucial mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS).
The successful implementation of these measures is vital for the thousands of students whose education has been severely disrupted by the long-standing Bawku conflict, which has displaced over 30,000 people since January 2024 alone.
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