Stephen Desu, a teacher at Ekumpoano Catholic Basic School, has sounded an alarm about alleged transactional sexual relationships between teachers and female students.
According to Stephen Desu, some schoolgirls seek money from teachers in exchange for sex.
He also revealed that others may be drawn into such arrangements because of financial hardship.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, October 20, Stephen Desu stated, “There are girls in schools who position themselves to sexually exploit teachers for their money whilst teachers get sex from them in a transactional relationship”.
“Especially when this food issue came up in our schools, where they’re not getting food. Some teachers stepped up, and they were giving the girls money, and they were exchanging sex for the money they were giving them,” he said.
“If you leave your girl child in school and you don’t support her with money and she’s surviving, you as a parent, what makes you think that that child is surviving just because she’s just there?” he asked.
He, however, noted that teachers have a responsibility to protect students while acknowledging that misconduct could occur among a large workforce.
“I mean, all professions can boast, but the teacher taught them all. So we position ourselves as the noble profession. Unfortunately, if you have more than 300,000 persons in your classroom as teachers, you may get such persons as predators,” he said.
Also, Stephen Desu disclosed that sexual misconduct by teachers is widespread across Ghana’s schools.
He alleged that almost every school has one or two teachers involved in such behaviour.
“ And almost every school, if all of us will be politically correct with everything, everybody is aware that in almost every school, there is one or there are two teachers who are engaged in this,” he said.
“At the primary level, the problem is there. At the JHS level, it’s there. But it’s worse. It’s worse at the SHS level,” he said.
“And sometimes a teacher will be at a primary school and say, no, I wish to go to the SHS. Why? Because that’s where he can exhibit his predatory, you know, sexual misbehaviour,” he said.
Meanwhile, Executive Director of Child Rights International, Bright Appiah, has boldly stated that the Ghana Education Service (GES) cannot be trusted to handle school abuse cases following the abuse of over 19 female students at Obuasi Senior High Technical School.
Child Rights International has called for the establishment of an independent authority to oversee counselling and child protection in Ghanaian schools.
According to Child Rights International, GES arrangements are not adequate to address child protection concerns and ensure accountability in schools.
He stressed that the GES counselling unit should be elevated into an independent authority with the power to supervise and oversee child welfare and protection issues.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, October 20, Bright Appiah STATED, “The Ghana Education Service cannot be trusted as an institution to deal with child protection issues. We think that for children to be able to enjoy their fundamental right to protection, dignity and privacy, there’s a need for the state to begin to rethink how our child protection system should look within our schools”.
Watch the video below:
@ghnow_ “He ejaculated four times before allowing me to go” – Victim recounts alleged sexual assault by Obuasi Sec Tech headmaster. Source: Joy News #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ “He held my hands and rubbed them on his manhood” – Victim recounts alleged sexual abuse involving Obuasi Sec Tech headmaster. Source: Joy News #GHNow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
