The Akatsi North district assembly has banned school pupils from partaking in wake keeping services in the district.

The district recorded a 24% pass in last year’s BECE and as a measure to improve education, the assembly has passed a regulation seeking to restrict basic school pupils from parading the outskirts of the districts after 9pm.

In an interview with Kasapa FM’s Maame Broni, the district chief executive officer, James Gunu noted the policy does not seek to infringe on the rights of the pupils but to instill discipline in them.

He was optimistic that the parents will ensure their wards comply with the policy and do not send them on errands after 9pm.

“We have given the various schools all the needed logistics to improve education yet the pupils are deliberately refusing to learn and we also deliberately push them to achieve our aim. Our district is barely new and we need to succeed and develop. This is not a curfew, we have break time and lesson hours in a pupil’s life. 9pm for wake keeping, are the pupil’s chief mourners?” he asked.

According to Gunu, not only will recalcitrant pupils be arrested and arraigned before a juvenile court in the district, but their parents or guardians will also be apprehended.

He noted the assembly held a meeting with the traditional authorities, various Parents Teachers Associations and all the stakeholders to ensure the success of the regulation.

“It is our collective responsibility to monitor our wards and ensure the success of this regulation. As the DCE, I am a single being and cannot monitor the whole district,” he said.