Mr Jacob Kor, The Acting Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), has urged teachers and heads of schools, to protect children under their care and respect their rights to education, in order to make the classroom a friendly environment for children.

He made the call at a meeting with members of the Conference of Heads of Basic Schools (CHOBES), Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), and other umbrella organizations within the GES in Koforidua.

Mr Kor urged teachers not to cane the children, “caning does not solve any problem, there are different ways of instilling discipline in children, have time to find out reasons for children’s poor performance or behaviour other than caning” he emphasized.

According to Mr Kor, most teachers make the schools unfriendly for children, and described it as a dangerous trend.

He urged heads of institutions to ensure that teachers treated children with the utmost care to make schooling attractive for them.

The Director-General dwelt widely on the mandate of the heads of institutions in ensuring that teachers' performances were in tune with the service regulations and charter.

He urged headteachers to ensure that teachers sought permission from them before sending their children on errands.

He admonished teachers to be fair and be guided by the rules and regulations of the GES when it came to charging unapproved fees and levies, adding that education should not be for the highest bidder.

The Acting Director-General announced that the GES was forming school fees task force to monitor schools charging unapproved fees, and urged the labour unions on education to support the GES to sanction non-performing teachers to instill discipline.

He observed that the trend where union leaders wanted to protect their members at all cost even when they were culpable, would not be in the interest of quality and accessible education.

He added that indiscipline and lawlessness of all forms should not be entertained.