When teachers become predators and why Ghana must criminalise sexual relationships between teachers and their students
Every time a parent watches a child walk through a school gate, there is an unspoken expectation.
The child will return home safer, wiser, and better prepared for the future. That expectation is shattered when the very people entrusted to educate and protect children become the ones who exploit them.
A teacher who engages in a sexual relationship with a student does more than violate professional ethics.
He destroys trust, abuses power, undermines education, and inflicts wounds that may last a lifetime.
Such conduct transforms a place of learning into a place of fear and vulnerability.
Across Ghana, reports of teachers engaging in sexual relationships with students continue to emerge from junior high schools, senior high schools, and tertiary institutions.
Many remain hidden beneath layers of fear, shame, and silence.
The latest incident that sparked public anger involved a teacher at Bole Senior High School in the Savanna 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 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 dangerous.
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 should face criminal prosecution, substantial fines, imprisonment where appropriate, permanent prohibition from teaching, and placement on a national educator misconduct registry.
The objective is not only to punish offenders but to send a powerful message that society will not tolerate the exploitation of children under the guise of education.
Government must also establish confidential reporting systems, anonymous reporting mechanisms, counselling services, legal assistance, and protection from retaliation to address persistent underreporting.
We have reached a point where administrative sanctions are no longer sufficient.
Every member of the public must openly condemn such conduct.
We must create a society where predatory teachers are exposed, reported, prosecuted, and permanently removed from influence over children.
Children deserve defenders, not predators. A nation that values education must protect the 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
