GES asked to create ‘case management protocols’ for sick students

Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) following the death of a first-year student of Aburi Girls’ Senior High School has urged the Ghana Education Service to develop case management protocols for students who fall sick in school.

Stacey Okyere, who had been complaining of intense stomach pains passed away on February 5, 2024. She was allegedly denied medical attention by the school nurse, who reportedly accused her of feigning illness repeatedly.

Accusing the management of Aburi Girls’ Senior High School of neglect, reports indicate that the first-year Free Senior High School (SHS) student was hurriedly taken to the hospital, but sadly, she was already deceased upon arrival.

In a statement, EduWatch said the implementation of the protocols should be mainstreamed into indicators for supervision by the school improvement and support officers and the key performance indicators of school heads.

Executive Director of the education think tank, Kofi Asare in an interview on the death of the student, called on the Parent Associations and Old Students to be interested in the state and functioning of health facilities in their schools.

The education policy analyst urged the Education Service to ensure that sick bays had the required drugs, competent personnel, and basic facilities to function under the National Health Insurance Scheme to avoid deaths in schools.

 “Since 2017, there have been at least four widely reported deaths in secondary schools resulting from the wrongful exercise of discretion by school authorities in refusing to allow sick students to either seek treatment at home or send them to hospitals for treatment,” he said in a discussion with the Ghana News Agency.

Kofi Asare said from October 2017 to 2013, government Second cycle schools including Bolga SHS, St. Monica SHS, Afia Kobi Girls’ Senior High School, and Dwamena Akenten Senior High School had witnessed student deaths.

Sadly, the Executive Director said in many instances, the response of the school authorities was usually to deny complicity, rather than initiate meaningful reforms of the health management systems in Senior High Schools.

Meanwhile, the management of the Ghana Education Service says it has initiated an internal investigation into the sudden demise of Stacey Okyere, a first-year student of Aburi Girls’ Senior High School in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

In a press statement dated February 12, 2023, and shared with Thisterm.com, the Education Service also said it is actively collaborating with law enforcement agencies to conduct an independent investigation into the matter.

“internal investigation is ongoing and Management is also working closely with the law enforcement agencies to independently investigate the matter.

Ghana Education Service (GES) assures our stakeholders and the general public of our continuous commitment to ensuring a safe and secure learning environment for all students,” the statement signed by a GES spokesperson said.