8 Ejisuman SHS teachers found guilty of 'sexual harassment

The special committee set up by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against some teachers at the Ejisuman Senior High School has found eight of them guilty of inappropriate sexual advances on the students.

Below are the details of the committee’s report.

- 10 students appeared before the committee to testify against the teachers. They include one student who has since left Ejisuman SHS.

- Nine teachers in all appeared before the committee and eight are now to face GES disciplinary action.

- The report, however, cleared the teachers of penetrative sex with the students.

- The committee is also recommending restrictions on the Nkosuohene of Ejisu Nana Kofi Poku. He’ll require special permission before being able to visit the school.

The GES set up the committee after a 21-year old student of the Ejisuman Senior High School (SHS) confessed that she and her colleagues mostly engage in sexual acts with their teachers in order to pay their fees.

The student, said a majority of the students are faced with financial constraints hence the teachers and the Assistant head help them.

The parents have called for the transfer of teachers in the region. But the teacher unions defended their members accused the sub-chief in Ejisuman, Nana Kofi Poku, of frustrating the management of the school.

Below are the recommendations made by the committee

The report makes the following general recommendations:

1. Female students should report love or sex proposals by their teachers and male students to the Guidance and Counseling Unit of the school.

2. School authorities should deal with reports of sex proposals by the teachers appropriately.

3. School authorities should encourage parents /guardians to entrust their female wards to the hands of the female teachers, eg. Their remittances should pass through the female teachers to avoid the temptation of male teachers (who receive these remittances for the girls) taking undue advantage of the situation.

4. The Guidance and Counselling Unit in the school should intensify its education on sex matters for the female students.

5. School authorities should report promptly any unlawful interference in the school administration by Nana Nkosuohene to the Traditional Council, Municipal Director of Education, the Regional Director of Education and the Municipal Chief Executive.

6. Any staff who seizes unauthorized gadget from a student should send it to the administration for proper records to be kept.

7. A delegation of Power from Management/Administration to teachers and other staff should be properly supervised by the Headmistress.