Deputy Education Minister Links Rising Student Indiscipline to Social Media and Substance Abuse
The Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Clement Apaak, has attributed rising cases of indiscipline among students to the negative influence of social media, abuse of mobile phones and the use of narcotic and unapproved substances.
His comments follow reports that some students of the Obuasi Senior High Technical School in the Ashanti Region allegedly assaulted the headmaster of the school over claims that a baby’s body had been buried on the school campus.
Speaking on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, Dr Apaak said several factors were contributing to misconduct among young people, including exposure to harmful content online and the influence of peers.
“But some of the issues that came up, and I believe some to be true, are one, negative influence of social media, and the abuse of the modern cell phone,” he said.
According to him, easy access to disturbing content online had made some young people believe they could engage in similar acts without facing consequences.
“Students are able to see all manner of behaviours, no matter how condemnable and abhorrent, both from within the jurisdiction and beyond. And somehow they begin to get a feeling that they can also act in such manners and get away with it,” he said.
The Deputy Minister also raised concerns about the growing use of narcotics and unapproved substances among young people, warning that the problem extends beyond senior high schools.
“We also have the incessant danger of the use of narcotics and other unapproved medical substances. This is a very serious issue that is also plaguing our youth,” he said.
Dr Apaak said the issue affects young people at different levels of education, including junior high schools and universities.
He cautioned that some substances marketed as energy drinks could contain harmful combinations of substances that negatively affect the behaviour of young people.
“You see them holding these energy drinks, and you might think that it is just an energy drink. But that is a potent concoction of a combination of all kinds of substances,” he said.
The Deputy Minister said peer pressure also played a role, with a small number of students sometimes influencing others to engage in misconduct.
“Sometimes just one or two students who have decided that they don’t want to be up to any good, they take advantage of the smallest trigger to misconduct themselves and then influence other perhaps well-meaning students to participate,” he said.
Dr Apaak also appealed to parents to take a more active role in monitoring the behaviour of their children and avoid defending them automatically when allegations of misconduct arise.
He stressed that Ghana’s education system must focus not only on academic excellence but also on moral development.
The Ministry of Education has meanwhile directed the Ghana Education Service (GES) to immediately close down the Obuasi Senior High Technical School and investigate the incident. The Ministry said anyone found culpable would be dealt with in accordance with the law.
