Every time a parent watches a child walk through the school gates, there is an unspoken expectation: that the child will return home safer, wiser, and better prepared for the future. That trust is shattered when those entrusted to educate and protect become the very ones who exploit.
A teacher who engages in a sexual relationship with a student does more than breach professional ethics — he destroys trust, abuses authority, undermines education, and leaves scars that may last a lifetime. Such conduct turns a place of learning into a space of fear and vulnerability.
Across Ghana, disturbing reports of teachers engaging in sexual relations with students continue to surface from junior high schools, senior high schools, and even tertiary institutions. Many cases remain hidden beneath layers of fear, shame, and silence.
The latest incident that provoked public outrage involved a teacher at Bole Senior High School in the Savannah Region, captured in a viral video allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct with a female student. The Ghana Education Service (GES) responded by interdicting the teacher pending investigations — a familiar pattern repeated in several 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 students treated primarily as disciplinary offenders rather than criminal offenders?
Fundamental problem
Whenever such cases arise, a familiar argument emerges. Some claim the student willingly participated, or even initiated the relationship. These arguments miss the point entirely. The issue is not whether the student appeared willing. The issue is whether a teacher should ever be permitted to engage in a sexual relationship with a student under his authority.
The answer must be an unequivocal no.
Teachers assign grades, supervise examinations, write recommendations, and influence disciplinary decisions. Students naturally seek their approval, and because of this profound imbalance of power, any sexual relationship between a teacher and a student is inherently exploitative and can never be genuinely equal.
Why students involved
One of the most damaging responses to these incidents is labelling affected students as immoral, wayward, or promiscuous.
This attitude is both unfair and dangaerous.
Adolescents are still developing emotionally and psychologically, making them vulnerable to manipulation by adults they admire, trust or depend on. Many students drawn into such relationships are seeking approval, mentorship, emotional support or academic assistance. These are normal needs that exploitative adults manipulate for personal gratification. Blaming the student deepens the trauma and discourages other victims from reporting abuse. Responsibility must always rest with the adult who occupies the position of trust and authority.
The hidden cost to education and society
Sexual exploitation by teachers damages more than individual victims.
It damages the educational system itself.
Affected students experience anxiety, depression, shame, and loss of self-esteem, leading to a decline in performance, absenteeism, and school dropout. Families suffer emotional distress.
Communities lose trust in educational institutions.
Society ultimately pays the price when young people are denied the opportunity to realise their full potential.
Existing policies
The GES has established codes of conduct prohibiting such relationships, and the Ministry of Education has introduced learner protection policies. Yet the persistence of these cases demonstrates that policy alone has not solved the problem. When a teacher is merely interdicted, suspended, or dismissed, the message is that the offence is primarily a workplace violation. But sexual exploitation of a student is an abuse of authority, a breach of trust, and an attack on a child’s fundamental right to education and protection.
Interdiction not enough
Interdiction is a temporary administrative measure. It is not a punishment, not a deterrent, and not a reassurance to parents that predators face meaningful consequences. It does not address the broader societal harm caused by the abuse. Administrative sanctions alone cannot adequately respond to offences that erode public confidence in schools and deny children their safety and dignity.
Ghana needs a stronger legal framework
Parliament should enact legislation specifically criminalising sexual relationships between teachers and students where the teacher exercises authority or educational responsibility over the student. Such legislation should cover junior high school teachers, senior high school teachers, TVET instructors, university lecturers, teaching assistants, academic supervisors, and school administrators.
Offenders
Offenders must face criminal prosecution, heavy fines, imprisonment where warranted, permanent disqualification from teaching, and inclusion on a national educator misconduct registry. The goal is not only to punish but to send a clear message that society will never tolerate the exploitation of children under the guise of education.
Government must also establish confidential and anonymous reporting channels, provide counselling services, legal support, and protection against retaliation to address the persistent problem of underreporting. Administrative sanctions alone are no longer enough.
Every member of the public must openly condemn such conduct. We must build a society where predatory teachers are exposed, reported, prosecuted, and permanently removed from any influence over children. Children deserve defenders, not predators. A nation that values education must safeguard the very 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 Bentley University, USA
