GES to reprimand two Techiman SHS teachers who allegedly assaulted student in viral video

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has announced disciplinary measures against teachers of the Twene Amanfo Senior High Technical School in Techiman who allegedly assaulted a male student, following an incident captured in a viral video. The teachers are to be reprimanded and removed from their positions as Masters on Duty as part of measures recommended by a committee set up by the school’s management to investigate the incident.

Deputy Director-General in charge of Quality and Access at the GES, Dr Issahaque Munwaru, disclosed this in an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, November 2. He said the teachers would also be referred for guidance and counselling alongside the affected students, while the school would surcharge them for the medical expenses incurred in treating the children.

“The teachers would have to be reprimanded, and they are also to be taken off their positions,” he said, explaining that they would no longer be assigned duties as Masters on Duty. Dr Munwaru said preliminary findings indicated that the teachers had allegedly assaulted students after discovering that some of them were bullying their colleagues and extorting money from them.

According to him, the students were reportedly using the metallic parts of their belts to lash colleagues who refused to pay the money demanded from them. He, however, maintained that the teachers were not justified in taking the law into their own hands, stressing that the GES Code of Conduct prohibits staff from inflicting physical punishment on students.

“The law does not permit anything that will inflict pain on the child,” he said. Dr Munwaru explained that the incident constituted professional misconduct under Part Three, Section Eight, Subsection A of the GES Code of Conduct. He said the Service would continue to enforce its regulations against corporal punishment and other forms of abuse in schools.

Under the Code of Conduct, teachers are prohibited from administering corporal punishment, subjecting students to painful body postures, threatening them with harm or assaulting them. Dr Munwaru said the GES regularly educates teachers on the Code of Conduct through orientation programmes, professional learning communities and continuous professional development sessions.

He warned that teachers who repeat similar offences would face more severe disciplinary action. “Any further misconduct along the same line will not receive the same level. It is going to be more punitive,” he said. The GES Deputy Director-General added that the Service was cooperating with security agencies investigating the incident, following the arrest of the teachers by the Bono East Regional Police.

He said the Service would provide the necessary information to support the police investigation, while its own disciplinary processes continued. READ ALSO: Two Techiman SHS teachers arrested over alleged assault of 17-year-old student