The Executive Director of Educate Africa Institute, Mr William Boadi, has called for the recruitment of school social workers in Ghana as a measure to curb growing indiscipline among students.
Speaking on Bullet TV’s Morning Target on Friday, February 21, 2025, Mr Boadi emphasised the crucial role social workers play in maintaining discipline and ensuring a conducive learning environment in schools.
“If students are future leaders and they are involved in indiscipline, then you can imagine the kind of future leaders we are grooming,” he cautioned, stressing the urgent need for structured disciplinary measures in schools.
Mr. Boadi, who is both a professional teacher and social worker, lamented the lack of recognition for social workers in Ghana’s educational system.
Unlike the Western world, where schools employ social workers to counsel students, engage them in positive behaviour reinforcement, and liaise between schools and the government, he lamented that Ghana has yet to integrate this essential role into its schools.
“In the Western world, counselling, engaging students, and monitoring their behaviour is done by school social welfare workers. In Ghana, we don’t have school social workers, and they are not even recognised,” he pointed out to Nana Kweku Aduah who co-hosts the show with Seli Acolatse Apaloo.
Highlighting their benefits, Mr. Boadi explained that school social workers not only provide support to students and teachers but also act as a bridge between schools and policymakers.
“Social workers counsel teachers and students and liaise between the schools and the government, so you won’t hear a teacher lamenting about the lack of books or poor classroom conditions. That is the work of school social workers,” he said.
He further stated that in other countries, school social workers handle official communications and advocacy, preventing teachers from having to address the media directly regarding school challenges.
