Presidential Staffer, Nana Yaa Jantuah has sounded the alarm over increasing levels of misconduct among students on major university campuses, warning that authorities should not assume tertiary students are fully mature simply because they are in higher education.
Speaking on TV3, she highlighted troubling behaviours among both male and female students at institutions including the University of Ghana (UG), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and the University of Education, Winneba.
She noted that some students engage in activities that their parents are unaware of, including maintaining expensive lifestyles and participating in behaviours she described as “not pleasant.”
“When you go to the University of Ghana, go to TEC, go to Winneba, there are cars parked there where the students are not in school. There are young girls who cannot even take these cars home because they don’t want their parents to know they are driving these cars around town when they are on campus,” she said, emphasizing that misconduct is no longer confined to senior high schools.
Madam Jantuah added that while universities may not be reporting gun-related incidents, other risks such as drug use, exploitation, and unsafe behaviours are on the rise.
She also pointed out that many students now enter university at younger ages than before, making the assumption of adulthood even more problematic.
“So I am saying that even though when it comes to the universities, we assume they are adults, but these days they go to school very young. When we went to universities, we were older,” she noted.
She urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) and university authorities to take responsibility for students while under their supervision, stressing that early warning signs must be identified to prevent incidents.
“For me, early warning signs to be able to curb it is key. We don’t wait for it to happen and then investigate to find out what happened. Sometimes there are signs, there are triggers,” she said.
Madam Jantuah maintained that these incidents demonstrate the need for stronger oversight, insisting that “these crimes happen when the children are not at home.”
Her comments contribute to ongoing national discussions on student safety, discipline, and the role of educational authorities in maintaining order across all levels of the education system.
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Story by Rocklyn Agyei | univers.ug.edu.gh
Edited by Erica Odeenyin Odoom
