In a move that has stirred both eyebrows and conversations across the nation, the President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Rev. Isaac Owusu, has offered an unconventional solution to the troubling wave of sexual abuse scandals rocking Ghanaian schools. Speaking at the prestigious Teachers Prize Awards Ceremony in Ho, Rev. Owusu urged his fellow male educators to keep their desires in check—by turning their attention away from students and toward their equally impressive female colleagues.
This striking advice comes in the wake of shocking revelations that have rattled the education sector. Earlier this year, a viral video from KNUST Senior High School exposed an assistant headteacher in a compromising position with a student. Not long after, a similarly disturbing video emerged from Okadjakrom Senior High School in the Oti Region, capturing a teacher and student in explicit activity behind closed doors. Both educators and the headmaster have since been interdicted by the Ghana Education Service, igniting a firestorm of public outrage.
Amid the turmoil, Rev. Owusu acknowledged the heavy toll such incidents have taken on the teaching profession’s reputation. “I want to advise all teachers in Ghana, especially we, the male teachers. Please, you don’t need this. This week and last week have been a bad day for us”.
But in a surprising twist, he lightened the mood by encouraging male teachers to court the “nice and beautiful” single female teachers within their communities instead. “The male teachers, we are pleading with you. If you want to do the thing, we have nice and beautiful female teachers who are single. And in the community that we are working, we have nice women and nice ladies who are single.”
Speaking on behalf of the union, Rev. Owusu drew a clear line in the sand, insisting that the union condemns such deplorable conduct while emphasizing the need to safeguard the education and dignity of female students.
Meanwhile, Vice President Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has vowed to crack down hard on sexual abuse in schools, stressing that transfers will no longer be a slap on the wrist for wayward teachers.
Story by: Elikplim Awuku
