Former Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr Kwabena B. Tandoh, has urged educational leaders to prioritise protecting vulnerable girls in schools rather than focus on safeguarding the reputation of the service and other educational institutions.
Speaking on The Pulse with Fostina Sarfo, he said allegations of abuse exposed through documentaries should prompt a broader examination of the systems responsible for protecting children in schools.
“I think I first need to state clearly that our responsibility as educational leaders is not to protect the GES or educational institutions, but to protect the vulnerable girls who sit in our classrooms,” he said.
Dr Tandoh stressed that revelations of abuse should not automatically be treated as the final account of events but should trigger further scrutiny of the institutions responsible for safeguarding students.
“If a documentary uncovers such abuse, it does not mean that the initial report should be taken as the final truth. Rather, it should be seen as a glaring symptom of an ill-equipped system,” he said.
He argued that the focus should be on whether the education system has the capacity to protect children and respond appropriately to allegations of misconduct.
“It is a symptom of an ill-equipped system to really protect children and to really take care of what needs to be done in the schools,” he added.
Dr Tandoh also questioned the scope of the committee established by the GES following the violent demonstrations on August 4 and 5.
While describing the committee as a positive administrative step, he said its mandate must be understood within the circumstances that led to its formation.
“One other thing we need to quickly be thinking about is the committee that was put together by the GES. It’s a very good committee, but we need to understand that it is an administrative committee,” he said.
According to him, the committee was established specifically in response to the demonstrations and tasked with investigating the circumstances that led to the unrest.
“It was put together specifically as a reaction to a violent demonstration that happened on August 4 and 5. And so that committee’s mandate was to look into what caused the demonstrations,” he said.
He noted that the committee’s work was therefore limited by its terms of reference.
“The committee had a limited scope, and the committee itself stated that its scope and its mandate were limited,” he added.
Dr Tandoh’s comments underscore the distinction between an administrative inquiry into student demonstrations and the broader responsibility of education authorities to ensure schools are safe environments for children.
He said the priority should be to examine weaknesses in child-protection systems and ensure that allegations of abuse receive appropriate attention, rather than allowing concerns about institutional reputation to overshadow student welfare.