On Thursday, October 15, Kofi Asare, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to introduce standardised safeguarding procedures, a sex offenders’ register and mandatory criminal background checks for teachers. He said the lack of consistent standard operating procedures has led to uneven responses to safeguarding concerns within the education system.
Asare’s remarks come after Minister of Education Haruna Iddrisu directed the GES to suspend the headmaster of Obuasi Senior High Technical School following allegations that he sexually abused a female student. The minister’s directive follows a media report that the headmaster had engaged in sexual misconduct with a student in the Ashanti Region.
He cited the former headmaster of Benkum Senior High School, who was interdicted after an unverified allegation by a student of inappropriate advances. Although the headmaster was not found guilty, he was asked to step aside and transferred to ease tensions after some teachers were perceived to have supported the complainant.
“Clearly defined procedures are necessary to ensure allegations are handled fairly, protecting students while safeguarding the rights of accused staff,” Asare said on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show. He also questioned how the GES handled concerns surrounding the Obuasi headmaster following violence at the school about two months earlier, arguing that consistent procedures would have provided a clear framework for determining the appropriate administrative response.
Describing the situation as a systemic challenge, Asare said the GES needs to prioritise safeguarding and establish consistent processes for addressing allegations of misconduct. He further advocated a sex offenders’ register, arguing that such a system could help education authorities identify individuals with relevant histories. He noted that, had such a register existed, the Obuasi headmaster would have been recorded following an earlier case in Toase.
Asare also called for mandatory criminal background checks for prospective teachers, pointing to jurisdictions that have adopted the practice and that Nigeria has begun introducing similar measures. He said Eduwatch has been calling for these reforms for years, stressing that stronger institutional safeguards are necessary to prevent misconduct and improve accountability in schools.
What follows is a call to action for the GES and the Ministry of Education to adopt these measures, with the hope that future safeguarding incidents can be prevented through systematic, transparent procedures.
