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”.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Education Service (GES) committee that investigated the August 2026 disturbances at Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS) in the Ashanti Region has concluded that sexual harassment allegations against the school’s headmaster, Zakaria Abdulai, were not substantiated by the evidence presented.
The finding was contained in a report by a nine-member committee established to investigate the circumstances surrounding a student demonstration at the school on Tuesday, August 4, 2026.
According to the report, the committee received information from the school’s Safe Space Focal Person indicating that 16 girls had allegedly been involved in sexual harassment cases concerning the headmaster.
The committee invited all 16 students to provide their accounts, but only four appeared before it.
Of the four students who attended, one denied the allegations, while the other three initially described conduct they considered to constitute sexual harassment. Their accounts included allegations of hugging and a kiss on the cheek.
The committee also identified an inconsistency in one student’s account regarding whether she had performed duties for the headmaster.
After assessing the information presented, the committee concluded that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations involving the headmaster and the students who appeared before it.
“On the evidence available to it, the Committee therefore found that the allegation of sexual harassment between the Headmaster and any of the girls who appeared before the Committee was not substantiated,” the report stated.
Despite its conclusion on the allegations, the committee raised concerns about professional boundaries between the headmaster and students, as well as the manner in which school authorities handled the matter.
The report noted that the headmaster admitted that students performed cleaning duties at his residence. He, however, maintained that the work was limited to the exterior of the house and that housemistresses were responsible for assigning the students.
The investigation formed part of a broader inquiry into the unrest that erupted at the school on August 4, following the discovery of what was suspected to be a foetus on the school compound.
However, the GES has constituted a separate committee to investigate fresh allegations highlighted by JoyNews in a subsequent investigation.
The development follows a JoyNews report that prompted renewed scrutiny of the headmaster’s conduct. The GES has also interdicted Abdulai pending further investigation.
@ghnow_ The aunt of the late Nana Yaw, popularly known as Terry/Dinero, has appealed to anyone who owes him money to pay it to his mother. #GHnow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ Emotional scenes at the Teshie District Court as the mother of the late Nana Yaw, popularly known as Terry/Dinero, confronts the three suspects accused of kidnapping and murdering her son. #GHnow #fyp ♬ son original – Alexis Carlier
