The Ghana Education Service (GES) has banned flamboyant post-examination celebrations on school premises.
In a statement issued by the GES, they banned the presentation of luxury gifts, including cars and money bouquets, to students on school premises after they complete their examinations.
The Ghana Education Service further warned that heads of schools who permit such acts will face sanctions.
The moves follow public concerns over excessive displays of wealth, with parents prohibited from presenting expensive gifts such as cars or money bouquets.
The GES statement issued read, “Management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has observed with concern an emerging trend of parents and guardians engaging in flamboyant celebration of their children’s completion of Senior High School. Such opulent displays are characterised by the presentation of expensive gifts such as motor vehicles and money bouquets to their children or wards on school premises.
While Management is not against the practice of parents and guardians celebrating achievement of their children or wards, Management is against the practice of such ostentatious displays by parents on school premises.
In order to ensure that this practice does not gain roots in the school culture, Management wishes to inform the general public that, henceforth, post-examination celebrations that are characterised by lavish presentation of items such as motor vehicles to students are prohibited on school premises.
Heads of schools who allow this practice on their campus will be sanctioned.
Schools are designed to promote social equalizers where merit and personal effort take priority over economic status. Ostentatious displays of wealth by parents on school premises create visible socio-economic divisions, shift the focus from academic achievement to financial privilege, and can foster psychological distress among students whose parents are not able to compete in such flamboyant celebrations.
Management counts on the usual cooperation of parents, guardians, and other stakeholders”.
Also, the Education Ministry has suspended graduation ceremonies across all Senior High Schools over the recent excessive display of wealth.
According to the Education Ministry, schools are institutions for learning, discipline and character development, and graduation ceremonies should rather mirror modesty and dignity rather than luxury.
The education minister, Haruna Iddrisu, called for the GES to suspend all SHS graduation ceremonies with immediate effect, pending a review of existing guidelines.
In a statement issued by the education minister’s Press Secretary, Hashmin Mohammed, on June 20, 2026, read, “The Ministry strongly condemns any conduct by students, parents, guardians, or other stakeholders that promotes extravagance and detracts from the true purpose of school ceremonies”.
“Consequently, the Honourable Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has directed the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to suspend all Senior High School graduation ceremonies nationwide with immediate effect, pending a review of existing guidelines governing such events,” the release added.
See the statement below:
