No More Cover-Ups: Plan Int. Ghana Flags Institutional Failures, Demands Nationwide Review of School Abuse Policies
No More Cover-Ups: Plan Int. Ghana Flags Institutional Failures, Demands Nationwide Review of School Abuse Policies
In a strongly worded press statement, Plan International Ghana has demanded independent criminal investigations, swift judicial prosecution, and immediate institutional overhauls across the nation’s second-cycle institutions following the unsettling sexual abuse scandal at the Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS) in the Ashanti Region.
The child welfare organization warned that the allegations, implicating the school’s suspended headmaster, Zakaria Abdulai, in the systematic exploitation of up to 19 female students, represent a catastrophic failure of institutional trust and expose massive structural deficiencies within Ghana’s educational safeguarding frameworks
“The allegations raise serious questions about the safety of children, the abuse of positions of trust, and the effectiveness of existing safeguarding mechanisms within Ghana’s educational institutions.
Schools must provide safe environments where children can learn without fear of exploitation, intimidation, or abuse,” Plan International Ghana stated
Below is the full press release
Press release
Justice for Female Students and Urgent Child Safeguarding Reforms in Schools.
Plan International Ghana is concerned by the allegations of sexual abuse involving female students of Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS) and the school’s headmaster.
These allegations raise serious concerns about children’s safety, the abuse of positions of trust, and the effectiveness of safeguarding systems in Ghanaian schools.
A school must be a place of safety, learning and opportunity – not fear, exploitation or abuse. Every child has the right to learn in a safe environment and to be treated with dignity.
Parents entrust schools and their leaders with their children’s education and wellbeing. Any alleged violation of this trust demands a serious, transparent and child-centred response.
While we welcome investigations into the allegations, we emphasise that the response must go beyond the possible dismissal or sanction of one individual. It must establish the facts, protect affected students, examine institutional failures and prevent future abuse.
WE THEREFORE CALL ON GOVERNMENT AND RELEVANT AUTHORITIES TO:
- Ensure justice and independent investigations: Conduct thorough, impartial, and child-sensitive investigations into the allegations, including how earlier complaints were handled. Anyone found responsible must be held accountable in accordance with the law and due process.
- Protect and support affected students: Provide confidential, trauma-informed psychosocial and healthcare support, access to appropriate legal assistance, and continued educational support. Protect students’ identities and prevent victim-blaming, stigma, intimidation, and retaliation.
- Hold institutions accountable: Investigate whether school management or education officials ignored, mishandled, or suppressed complaints. Safeguarding failures must have consequences, regardless of an individual’s position or influence.
- Protect those who speak up: Establish safe, confidential reporting channels for students and staff, and enforce protections for teachers, students and whistle-blowers who report.
- Strengthen safeguarding across all schools: Enforce professional codes of conduct and provide mandatory safeguarding and professional-boundaries training for teachers and school leaders.
- Undertake a national safeguarding review: Review how sexual abuse complaints are reported, investigated and resolved in schools, identify gaps in existing policies and laws, and implement a time-bound national action plan with clear accountability measures.
We urge the Government of Ghana, the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, law enforcement agencies, and all relevant institutions to demonstrate their commitment to child protection through concrete action.
This must not become another scandal that fades from public attention without justice or meaningful reform. Dismissal alone cannot heal affected students, address institutional failures or guarantee that other children will be safe.
We also call on the media and the public to respect the privacy and dignity of affected students and avoid circulating identifying information or sensationalising their experiences.
No child should suffer in silence to protect an institution’s reputation. No teacher should face retaliation for speaking up for a child. And no complaint concerning the safety of a child should be ignored.
Plan International Ghana reaffirms its commitment to supporting the Government of Ghana, the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service, and other relevant stakeholders in implementing targeted interventions to strengthen child protection and safeguarding in schools across Ghana.
These efforts aim to promote safe, inclusive, and protective learning environments where every child is protected from abuse, exploitation, violence, and all forms of harm.
