When teachers become predators: Why Ghana must criminalise sexual relationships between teachers and their students
Every time a parent watches a child walk through a school gate, there is an unspoken expectation. The child will return home safer, wiser, and better prepared for the future.
That expectation is shattered when the very people entrusted to educate and protect children become the ones who exploit them.
A teacher who engages in a sexual relationship with a student does more than violate professional ethics. He destroys trust, abuses power, undermines education, and inflicts wounds that may last a lifetime. Such conduct transforms a place of learning into a place of fear and vulnerability.
Across Ghana, reports of teachers engaging in sexual relationships with students continue to emerge from junior high schools, senior high schools, and even tertiary institutions. Some incidents attract national outrage and media attention. Many more remain hidden beneath layers of fear, shame, intimidation, and silence.
![IT must be one of the most difficult – and exasperating – tasks in the world to be the President of a nation like Ghana. For you may travel all over4 the world, talking to the leaders of “the developed nations”, to try persuade them that the pandemic that is afflicting the world, Covid-19 (with its variants) is a truly global destroyer and thatnowhere is safe from it, until everywhere is safe. You may deploy your most eloquent language to point out that although, the scientists of the “developed countries” have managed to manufacture a vaccine that has been seen to work against the pandemic, the politicians of the “developed countries” are, contrary to undertakings they have made to the World Health Organisation (WHO) hoarding the vaccine in their countries. Reports suggest that whereas the governments of the “developed countries” are targeting 100 percent of their populace for vaccination, and getting closer to their objective every day, less than 10% of the populace of the developing countries have so far been vaccinated, as a result of a lack of vaccines. Is this fair? you ask. Air travel (you continue) has made international contacts extremely easy. And since the Covid-19 virus and its latest variant (Omicron) in particOman Ghana versus Covid-19 08 www.ghanaiantimes.com.gh GHANAIAN Times Features TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021ular, are very transmissible. So it is in everyone's educated self-interest to see that all people on the planet are fully vaccinated. As a result of your Government's efforts, you hear that plenty of vaccines have arrived in your country and you are emboldened to announce that your Government will soon be able to vaccinate its entire adult population. Then, you get the shock of your life: an intelligence report tells you that some mischievous people are spreading the fake news that if a person allows himself or herself to be vaccinated, the “vaccine will make that person vote for your governing NPP whether he/she wants to do so or not!” WHAAAAT! How does one counter such fake news? If the Government say it is not true, the conspiracy theorists shoot back, “And are you so naïve as to expect them to admit that the vaccine will make you vote for the NPP?” Wow! Are people so wicked that despite the gains that the world has already made through vaccination (such as the elimination of small pox from the world and the near-extinction of polio and yellow fever) they try to dissuade others from taking advantage of anti-Covid vaccination? Especially since people who are clever enough to invent such fake news must know of the horrible pain that Covid-19 subjects people to, before it finally kills them? What makes the anti-Covid vaccination story doubly awful is that its seeds are sown on pre-fertilised ground. In the past, some wicked scientists in the developed countries have allowed themselves to be used by their [usually racist] governments to administer harmful vaccines and other medications to people, using the lie that such interventions can save them from certain disease. One of the most devastating such deceptions occurred in the United States in 1932. Below is the horrible story as told on the OFFICIAL website of the US CENTRES FOR DISEASE CONTROL [CDC]: https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm QUOTE: THE U.S. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE SYPHILIS STUDY AT TUSKEGEE In 1932, the USPHS, [US Public Health Service] working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study to record the natural history of syphillis. It was originally called the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphillis in the Negro Male” (sic) [now referred to as the “USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee”]. The study initially involved 600 Black men — 399 with syphillis, 201 who did not have the disease. Participants’ informed consent was not collected. Researchers told the men they were being treated for “bad blood,” a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphillis, anaemia, and fatigue. In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals, and burial insurance (sic)! By 1943, penicillin was the treatment of choice for syphilis and becoming widely available, but the participants in the study were not offered treatment. In 1972, an Associated Press story about the study was published. As a result, the Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs appointed an Ad Hoc Advisory Panel to review the study. The advisory panel concluded that the study was “ethically unjustified”; that is, the “results [were] disproportionately meagre, compared with known risks to [the] human subjects involved.” In March 1973, the panel advised the Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to instruct the USPHS to provide all necessary medical care for the survivors of the study. The Tuskegee Health Benefit Programme was established to provide these services and in 1975, participants’ wives, widows and children were added to the program. In 1995, the program was expanded to include health, as well as medical, benefits. The last study participant died in January 2004. The last widow receiving THBP benefits died in January 2009. ... I973, a class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the study participants and their families, resulting in a $10 million, out-of-court settlement in 1974. On May 16, 1997, President Bill Clinton issued a formal Presidential Apology [over the study.] UNQUOTE In Ghana, the fake news that the anti-Covid vaccine would make people “vote for the NPP” has already begun to cause disagreements in some households. A family known to me has had to dismiss its house-help because she obstinately refused to take the jab. To illustrate the way the way the political message contained in the fake news has been camouflaged, I offer a version of the last conversation between the head of the household and the house-help: BOSS: Hey, “A”, you are very lucky! Instead of you going around to look for the vaccinators, they are coming to our estate! HOUSE-HELP: They are coming here? B: Yes! H: But Boss, I told you that my brother took the jab and had to be admitted into hospital. B: It doesn't mean that you too will become ill if you get the jab. It affects different people in different ways. Look, as you know, I have had all my own jabs and I have never been ill – as you know! H: But Boss, if you have taken all your jabs, then you are PROTECTED, are you not? B: Yes, I am. H: In that case, even if I become infected because I have not taken the jab, I cannot transmit the disease to you and YOU will be all right? B: I can't say that! Because, as I have explained to you, the pandemic can affect different people in different ways. H: Then the jab is useless? B: Listen, I can't take any risks with such a dangerous disease. Either you take it or you leave, I am sorry. I cannot allow you to expose me and my family to the risk of catching Covid. As I reported earlier, the House-help chose to leave. Both her Boss and I are convinced that it wasn't mere logicthat made her decide not to take the jab. She was probably under the influence of a church/cult. Or political propaganda! • Omicron cases at Kotoka International Airport are amongst the unvaccinated](https://ghanaiantimes.com.gh/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/GT-8.pdf-Adobe-Acrobat-Pro-DC-4-220x150.jpg)
The latest incident that sparked public anger involved a teacher at the Bole Senior High School in the Savana Region, who was captured in a viral video allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct with a female student. The Ghana Education Service responded by interdicting the teacher pending investigations. Similar disciplinary actions have been taken in several other cases over the years.
While interdiction may be an appropriate administrative response, Ghana must now confront a difficult but necessary question.
Why are teachers who engage in sexual relationships with their students often treated primarily as disciplinary offenders rather than criminal offenders?
The fundamental problem: Consent is not the issue
Whenever such cases arise, a familiar argument emerges. Some people claim that the student willingly participated in the relationship. Others insist that the student initiated the interaction.
These arguments miss the point entirely.
The issue is not whether the student appeared willing. The issue is whether a teacher should ever be allowed to engage in a sexual relationship with a student under his authority.
The answer must be an unequivocal no.
A teacher exercises enormous influence over a student’s academic life. Teachers assign grades, supervise examinations, write recommendations, determine classroom opportunities, and often influence disciplinary decisions. Students naturally seek their approval and depend on them for educational success.
Because of this imbalance of power, any sexual relationship between a teacher and a student is inherently exploitative. Such a relationship can never be genuinely equal.
Why students involved are victims, not offenders
One of the most damaging responses to these incidents is the tendency to label affected students as immoral, wayward, spoiled, or promiscuous.
This attitude is both unfair and dangerous.
Adolescents are still developing emotionally, psychologically, and socially. They are often vulnerable to manipulation by adults whom they admire, trust, or depend on. A teacher’s position of authority gives him significant influence over a student’s decisions and behaviour.
Even where a student appears willing, society must recognise that the responsibility lies with the adult who occupies the position of trust and authority.
Many students who become involved in such relationships are seeking approval, validation, mentorship, emotional support, academic assistance, or protection. These are normal needs for young people. Exploitative adults manipulate these needs for personal gratification.
The hidden cost to education and society
Sexual exploitation by teachers does not only harm individual victims. It damages the educational system itself.
Many affected students experience anxiety, depression, shame, loss of self-esteem, and emotional distress. These challenges often result in declining academic performance, poor concentration, absenteeism, school dropout, and diminished educational aspirations.
The consequences extend beyond the classroom. Families suffer emotional distress. Communities lose trust in educational institutions. Public confidence in teachers weakens. Society ultimately pays the price when young people are denied the opportunity to realise their full potential.
Existing policies are important but insufficient
The GES has established codes of conduct prohibiting sexual relationships between teachers and students. GES guidelines on sexual harassment classify such conduct as serious misconduct. The Ministry of Education has also introduced policies aimed at protecting learners within educational institutions.
Yet the persistence of these cases demonstrates that policy alone has not solved the problem.
When a teacher is merely interdicted, suspended, transferred, or dismissed, the message conveyed to society is that the offence is primarily a workplace violation.
But sexual exploitation of a student is far more than a workplace violation.
It is an abuse of authority.
It is a breach of trust.
It is an attack on a child’s right to education and protection.
And in many cases, it may already constitute a criminal offence under existing laws, particularly where the student is below the age of consent.
Why responsible teachers must speak up
Many Ghanaian teachers are dedicated professionals who sacrifice daily to shape the future of the nation.
It is precisely for this reason that responsible teachers must not remain silent when colleagues engage in sexual misconduct.
Silence protects offenders.
Silence endangers students.
Silence damages the reputation of the teaching profession.
Teachers who witness inappropriate conduct, receive reports from students, or become aware of suspicious relationships have a moral and professional responsibility to report such behaviour.
Protecting children must always take precedence over protecting colleagues.
Why interdiction is not enough
Interdiction is a temporary administrative measure.
It removes a teacher from active duty while investigations are conducted. It helps preserve the integrity of the investigative process and prevents further interaction with students.
However, interdiction is not punishment.
Interdiction does not create a strong deterrent.
Interdiction does not reassure parents that predators will face meaningful consequences.
Most importantly, interdiction does not adequately address the broader societal harm caused by the abuse.
A teacher who exploits a student damages not only the victim but also public confidence in the educational system. Parents begin to question whether schools are truly safe environments. Students lose trust in authority figures.
Administrative sanctions alone cannot adequately address such harm.
Ghana needs a stronger legal framework
Parliament should consider legislation specifically criminalising sexual relationships between teachers and students where the teacher exercises authority, supervision, or educational responsibility over the student.
Such legislation should apply to Junior High School teachers, Senior High School teachers, TVET instructors, university lecturers, teaching assistants, academic supervisors, and school administrators.
The law must recognise that educational authority creates a special relationship of trust that should never be exploited for sexual purposes.
Under such a framework, offenders should face criminal prosecution, substantial fines, imprisonment where appropriate, permanent prohibition from teaching, and placement on a national educator misconduct registry.
Prosecution must be firm, swift, and uncompromising. The objective is not only to punish offenders but also to send a powerful message that society will not tolerate the exploitation of children under the guise of education.
The law must make it clear that anyone who abuses educational authority to obtain sexual access to a student will face severe consequences without exception.
Protecting victims must be a national priority
Another major challenge is underreporting. Many students fear retaliation. Others worry they will be blamed rather than protected. Some remain silent because the accused teacher is influential within the school or community.
Government must therefore establish confidential reporting systems in schools and universities.
Students should have access to anonymous reporting mechanisms, counselling services, legal assistance, psychological support, and protection from retaliation.
Without strong victim protection measures, many cases will continue to remain hidden.
The strongest way to protect the integrity of the profession is not to excuse misconduct but to confront it decisively.
Every member of the public must openly condemn such conduct whenever it occurs.
We must create a society where predatory teachers are exposed, reported, prosecuted, and permanently removed from positions of influence over children.
Children deserve defenders, not predators.
A nation that values education must protect the students who make education possible. Anything less is a betrayal of our collective responsibility to the next generation.
The writer is a professor of Finance at the Bentley University U.S.A
BY ALEX ANNAN ABAKAH
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