Education has always been regarded as society’s most powerful instrument for transmitting values, culture, discipline, and responsible citizenship from one generation to another. Schools are not merely centres for academic instruction; they are institutions deliberately designed to shape character, instill moral responsibility, and prepare young people for productive adulthood. The partnership between parents, schools, and regulators remains fundamental to this mission.

It is therefore deeply troubling that in recent weeks, Ghanaian social media platforms have been inundated with disturbing videos depicting students engaging in sexual activities on school campuses, vandalizing school property after completing their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), and openly displaying intimate conduct as a form of celebration. Equally concerning are scenes of parents storming school compounds with champagne, cash gifts, luxury vehicles, and public displays of wealth to celebrate the completion of secondary education.

While the Ghana Education Service (GES) has rightly moved swiftly to prohibit such practices on school premises, one institution that has remained conspicuously silent is the National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (NCPTA), an organization whose very mandate is to promote responsible parenting and strengthen the home-school partnership. The silence of the NCPTA at this critical moment raises serious questions about whether the organization is fulfilling its constitutional and moral responsibility to guide parents and protect the welfare of students.

A Disturbing Shift in Educational Culture

What is unfolding across many schools is not merely a disciplinary problem; it represents a worrying cultural shift. Completion of WASSCE has increasingly become less about academic accomplishment and more about spectacle. Social media validation, public attention, and displays of material wealth are gradually replacing humility, achievement, and reflection. The disturbing reality is that many students now appear to associate educational success not with scholarship, hard work, innovation, or service, but with visibility and social status. Parents, knowingly or unknowingly, have become active participants in this transformation.

The phenomenon is not limited to senior high schools. Across Ghana, kindergarten graduations have become elaborate ceremonies requiring expensive costumes and financial contributions from parents. Career Days increasingly resemble fashion exhibitions rather than educational exercises. End-of-term “Our Day” celebrations, birthday parties on school campuses, and pre-tertiary graduation ceremonies continue to place growing financial burdens on families. Education is gradually becoming a stage upon which social class is displayed. The danger is that children begin to equate personal worth with material possessions rather than character and achievement.

The Sexualization of School Spaces

Perhaps the most alarming aspect of the recent developments is the normalization of sexual conduct within educational environments. Schools are expected to provide safe learning spaces where young people can mature under guidance and supervision. When students engage in sexual activities on campus and such acts become social media content, it points to deeper failures in parental supervision, values formation, and school-community collaboration. The consequences are severe.

Beyond the obvious moral concerns, early sexual behaviour among adolescents is associated globally with increased risks of teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, emotional trauma, school dropout, and long-term mental health challenges. Furthermore, public circulation of sexual videos exposes students to digital exploitation. Once intimate content enters cyberspace, it can remain accessible indefinitely, affecting future employment opportunities, university admissions, personal relationships, and mental wellbeing. Even more disturbing is the possibility that such exposure attracts predatory adults who exploit vulnerable young people through manipulation, grooming, extortion, or sexual abuse. The NCPTA cannot afford to remain silent while students are increasingly exposed to these dangers.

When Parents Become Enablers

Traditionally, parents served as the first teachers and custodians of values. Today, however, some parents are inadvertently becoming promoters of excess. The recent trend of spraying money on school compounds, presenting luxury vehicles to teenagers, popping champagne, and organizing extravagant celebrations sends troubling messages to young people. Such actions communicate that social recognition is more important than personal responsibility.

The completion of secondary school, while commendable, is not the pinnacle of achievement. It is merely one stage in a much longer journey. Rewarding students with excessive displays of wealth for completing a basic educational milestone risks creating unrealistic expectations and entitlement attitudes that may later prove damaging. More importantly, it widens social divisions among students. Those from less privileged backgrounds may develop feelings of inadequacy, inferiority, resentment, or exclusion. Educational institutions should foster equality and belonging—not become arenas where economic differences are publicly showcased.

Lessons from Other Countries

Ghana is not the first country to face these challenges. In the United States, concerns over extravagant prom celebrations, inappropriate student behaviour, and social media-fueled misconduct led many school districts to adopt stricter codes of conduct, increased parental accountability measures, and enhanced student counselling programmes. In the United Kingdom, schools facing incidents of student misconduct linked to online content implemented digital citizenship education, mandatory parental engagement sessions, and stronger safeguarding policies. Australia and Canada have similarly strengthened school-family partnerships to address growing concerns about cyberbullying, sexualized online behaviour, and student welfare. A common lesson emerges from these experiences: disciplinary measures alone are insufficient. Sustainable solutions require active parental engagement, continuous values education, and strong collaboration between schools and families.

Commending GES for Swift Intervention

The Ghana Education Service deserves commendation for acting decisively to prohibit celebrations involving spraying of money, champagne displays, luxury gifts, and other forms of ostentatious conduct on school campuses. The directive sends an important message that educational institutions must remain centres of learning and character formation rather than platforms for social competition. The intervention also demonstrates an understanding that schools have a duty to protect students from harmful influences and maintain environments conducive to discipline and inclusivity. However, regulation alone cannot solve the problem.The root causes lie beyond the school gates.

What Must the NCPTA Do Now?

The NCPTA must urgently reclaim its leadership role.

First, the Council should issue a national policy position condemning excessive celebrations and inappropriate conduct on school campuses.
Second, it should launch a nationwide parental education campaign focused on responsible parenting in the digital age.
Third, the Council must collaborate with GES to develop clear behavioural guidelines for parents during school events and ceremonies.
Fourth, it should establish community-based parental mentoring programmes that promote positive child development and values formation.
Fifth, the NCPTA must advocate stronger digital literacy programmes to educate both parents and students about the long-term consequences of sharing explicit content online.
Finally, the Council should work with schools to create structured post-WASSCE transition programmes that help students channel their energy into productive activities, career planning, volunteerism, entrepreneurship, and civic engagement.

Recommendations for GES

The Ghana Education Service should complement its recent directive with broader reforms.

Schools should strengthen guidance and counselling units.
Comprehensive sexuality education should focus on responsibility, consent, self-respect, and digital safety.
Parent engagement sessions should become mandatory components of school administration.
Schools should also develop clear sanctions for vandalism, indecent conduct, and behaviour that undermines institutional discipline.
Most importantly, GES must continue promoting character education alongside academic excellence.

A National Wake-Up Call

The videos circulating across social media should not merely provoke outrage; they should provoke reflection. They reveal more than isolated incidents of student misconduct. They expose a growing crisis in parental responsibility, values transmission, and societal priorities. Every generation leaves a legacy for the next. The question confronting Ghana today is whether we are raising young people who understand discipline, responsibility, and service or whether we are unintentionally nurturing a culture obsessed with attention, excess, and instant gratification.

The NCPTA’s silence in this moment is not merely disappointing; it is dangerous. When the principal voice of parents remains absent during a moral and disciplinary crisis involving students, it creates a vacuum that social media, peer pressure, and negative influences are quick to fill. Our children deserve more than applause for superficial achievements. They deserve guidance, boundaries, protection, and moral leadership. History will not judge us by the luxury cars presented on school compounds, the money sprayed in celebration, or the videos that trend online. It will judge us by whether we had the courage to protect our children when the warning signs became impossible to ignore. The time has come for the NCPTA to speak, for parents to reflect, and for the nation to remember that the ultimate purpose of education is not to produce spectacles but to produce responsible citizens.