Hot SourceA disturbing pattern is emerging in our Senior High schools: teachers and heads, entrusted to act as guardians of students, are instead exploiting them.
The latest case is a viral video, showing the Assistant Headmaster of KNUST Senior High School, Charles Kwasi Aidoo, fondling a female student in his office. While, many incidents of sexual harassments in our schools never make it to the media, this one has rightly provoked national debate and it must be the last.
Even before Ghanaians could come to terms with this, another video surfaced where Mr Mfo Richard Tibetor, a teacher at Okadjakrom Senior High Technical School (SHTS) in the Oti region, was caught on nvideo allegedly showing him in a sexual act with a female student.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has acted swiftly by dismissing Mr Aidoo and interdicting the teacher, but these actions though commendable, cannot be where the matter ends. For too long, discipline within our schools has been in decline.
We have seen students vandalise property and attack teachers, particularly during examinations, claiming unfair treatment. Such indiscipline is, in part, emboldened by the moral failings of those in authority, teachers who cross boundaries and reduce themselves to predators instead of role models.
How can school authorities instill discipline when some of them are guilty of sexually violating the very students they are meant to protect? No justification exists for such behaviour.
The law must now take its full course. Authorities should not only prosecute Mr Aidoo, but also use his case as a clear warning to others who may be engaging in or contemplating similar misconduct.
Addressing the matter during a working visit by Vice President Prof Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang to the ministry on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, assured that her ministry is working closely with law enforcement to ensure justice.
“The recent one is the report of the female student at KNUST SHS with the assistant headmaster. Even though GES through the school dismissed him, we are collaborating with the police to effect the arrest of the perpetrator,” Dr Lartey said.
These young girls represent the future of our nation. They must not be made to believe that their success in life depends on compromising their dignity or submitting to exploitation. Schools should be safe spaces for learning and growth not breeding grounds for abuse.
Consequently, we urge the authourities to ensure the speedy and diligent prosecution of the assistant Headmaster and the teacher. This will serve as a deterrent to those who may contemplate similar acts.
The post Teachers must protect, not prey on students appeared first on The Herald ghana.
