On 14 October 2026, the Ghana Education Service interdicted the headmaster of Obuasi Senior High Technical School over allegations of sexual misconduct involving students, and the Minister of Education asked the CID to investigate. Although the investigation is ongoing, the case exposes two weaknesses in how our schools detect abuse and prevent unsuitable persons from moving between positions of trust.
The GES Code of Professional Conduct makes sexual relations between staff and a student of any age, with or without consent, professional misconduct. The Ministry of Education’s November 2023 Guideline for Addressing Sexual Harassment in Secondary Education Institutions makes this binding on all staff, contractors and volunteers.
It requires each school to appoint two Safe Space Focal Persons, routes formal complaints to a grievance committee chaired by the head, and directs police referral and interdiction where rape or sexual assault is alleged. The Guideline, however, establishes no national register of substantiated misconduct findings that another school can consult before employing someone.
The first weakness is detection. JoyNews investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has said his initial information concerned five students, and that the number grew to nineteen as his inquiry progressed. He also said the allegations were widely known within the Obuasi community. Formal action came only after the documentary was broadcast. This raises serious concerns about the independence and effectiveness of school-based complaints procedures, particularly where allegations concern those exercising institutional authority.
The second weakness is the narrow base of criminal records. According to the National Development Planning Commission’s 2024 National Annual Progress Report, Ghana Police Service records show 1,296 defilement cases and 316 rape cases nationwide in 2024. Our criminal law does reach teachers.
Defilement applies to any child under sixteen regardless of consent. Indecent assault under section 103 of the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) covers non-consensual sexual contact, and section 14 of the same Act voids consent obtained through the undue exercise of authority.
The Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038) criminalises online grooming of children. Sexual remarks, propositions and favouritism in the classroom may constitute professional misconduct without necessarily amounting to criminal offences. A clearance system built only on convictions, such as the sex offender register DOVVSU proposed in 2020, would therefore miss much of the conduct the 2023 Guideline prohibits.
Kenya requires a Certificate of Good Conduct for teacher registration, and South Africa allows schools to check its confidential National Register for Sex Offenders before hiring. Nigeria’s experience illustrates the importance of distinguishing allegations and arraignments from established misconduct rather than publicly exposing unproven allegations. England and New South Wales offer the closest fit.
England combines Disclosure and Barring Service checks with professional prohibition orders that schools can verify, supported by its Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 guidance. New South Wales continuously monitors every clearance and alerts employers when a holder is barred.
Ghana should therefore legislate a National Safeguarding Clearance and Barring System through amendment of the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023). The CID would provide criminal-record information for screening every teacher, support worker, contractor and volunteer before appointment, linked to the Ghana Card.
The National Teaching Council, already empowered under section 60 to suspend or revoke teaching licences, would maintain teacher barring records, including those on its temporary register. A designated statutory authority would maintain corresponding records for non-teaching staff across public and private schools.
Both would feed a single secure online verification platform. Established serious misconduct would trigger appropriate suspension, revocation or barring, and employers would receive automatic notice when clearance changes. NaSIA would sanction schools employing staff without valid clearance, reserving closure for serious or repeated violations.
Within schools, any allegation against a head, and any allegation involving sexual contact, should go directly to a designated safeguarding officer at the Regional Directorate of Education and, where an offence may have occurred, to the police. This route should cover students of every age, including those over eighteen.
For younger students, schools should also log every report made under section 17 of the Children’s Act, which requires child abuse to be reported to the Department of Social Welfare, and NaSIA inspectors should review that log on every visit. Complainants must receive appropriate support and protection against retaliation.
The system must also protect those it screens. A teacher facing an adverse entry should receive written notice of the information relied upon, a fair opportunity to respond, and a right of appeal to an independent panel and then to the High Court. Authorised employer verification should show only a cleared, expired or not cleared status.
A pending investigation should be visible only to the employer and the relevant regulator, for a limited period subject to review. These safeguards give effect to the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843) and to Articles 18 and 23 of the 1992 Constitution. GNAT, NAGRAT, PRETAG and TEWU, all of which contributed to the 2023 Guideline, should help draft the regulations.
Implementation should begin with heads of schools and boarding school staff, whose authority and overnight responsibility carry the greatest risk. Clearance should be free for volunteers. Past dismissals for sexual misconduct should be entered only after the persons concerned have been notified and allowed to contest the entry.
Each year, NaSIA should report the proportion of staff holding valid clearance, the time taken between complaint and protective action, the proportion of grievance cases concluded within the Guideline’s timelines, the number of licences revoked and the number of repeat allegations.
Nineteen students at Obuasi waited for a journalist before anyone acted. A functioning safeguarding system should act on the first credible report, not wait for a documentary.
By Prince Hamid Armah, PhD
