The President of the Ghana Psychologists Association has attributed the increasing trend of sexual misconduct in schools to teachers taking advantage of vulnerable students.
According to Dr. Richmond Coleman, power imbalances and cultural norms enable such abuse.
Speaking to Starr News in the wake of the interdiction of Obuasi Senior High Technical School Headmaster Zakaria Abdulai over allegations of sexual misconduct involving female students, Dr. Coleman described the situation as worrying and called for better data collection to establish the true scale of the problem.
“Matters such as this, which is a bit worrying. Perhaps, we don’t know whether, or maybe they could even be more, just that these are the ones that have come up. I think it’s important that GES going forward are able to get numbers to this so that we can really establish the prevalence and then the matter is properly addressed,” he said.
Dr. Coleman explained that, from a psychological perspective, such abuse typically thrives in environments marked by power differentials and silence. He noted that Ghanaian cultural values, which emphasise respect for elders and discourage children from questioning authority figures, can be exploited by perpetrators.
“But it is important for us to see how some of these things happen. Because, normally, from a psychological point of view, abuse such as this, they often thrive where there is power and silence. And in our part of the world, in a culture where we teach children to respect elders and basically not to question them, things like this are likely to thrive. Yeah, of course, it’s a very good virtue to see young people showing obedience and respect to others. But often times, abusers exploit this,” he added.
The comments come amid heightened public attention on student safety following Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu’s directive for the immediate suspension of Mr Abdulai and the subsequent interdiction by the Ghana Education Service (GES).
The GES has directed the headmaster to hand over management of the school and cooperate with investigations, while the police Criminal Investigations Department has been asked to probe the allegations.
The reported incidents are said to have triggered student unrest, property damage and the temporary closure of the school.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
