'Report school abuse directly to Education Ministry' – Deputy Minister tells students, parents

The Ministry of Education is set to establish a direct reporting channel for students, parents and other stakeholders to petition the Minister over sexual abuse and other forms of misconduct in educational institutions.

Deputy Education Minister Dr Clement Apaak said the proposed mechanism would allow complainants to bypass existing reporting structures where they believe school authorities or education officials have failed to respond appropriately or promptly to their concerns.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, October 20, Dr Apaak said the initiative was aimed at addressing weaknesses in the handling of misconduct cases and ensuring that serious complaints are brought to the attention of the appropriate authorities.

He acknowledged concerns over the failure of some education officials to escalate reports of alleged abuse, citing questions surrounding the handling of allegations against the headmaster of Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS).

“There is a systemic challenge in as far as the GES structure is concerned. And that systemic challenge is not based on procedure, but it is coming across as though there is inertia or a refusal to act on matters of this nature and or to bring matters of this nature to ultimate authorities,” he said.

According to Dr Apaak, the proposed reporting channel would cover all levels of education, including primary and junior high schools, senior high schools, universities and colleges of education.

“We would now open a channel so that students, parents and other stakeholders who know about some of these occurrences in our various institutions of academic pursuits, whether it is primary school, junior high school, secondary school, university, colleges of education, they should be able to bypass the structures if they feel that the current structures are not responsive in a timely function to petition the Minister directly or my good self, and we will take it up,” he said.

The announcement follows allegations of sexual abuse involving the headmaster of Obuasi SHTS and about 19 female students.

The allegations have triggered calls for an independent investigation and greater accountability in the handling of abuse complaints within educational institutions.

Dr Apaak said the Ministry would also investigate why the Obuasi Municipal and Regional Education Directors allegedly failed to promptly forward information about the case to the Ghana Education Service headquarters and the political leadership.