Ashesi University’s Safeguarding Lead, Dr Millicent Adjei, has questioned Obuasi Senior High Technical School’s response to safeguarding concerns. She says children entrusted to a school must feel safe enough to report abuse.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, she identified two failures in the accounts presented. These were boundary crossings between staff and students, and an environment that discouraged children from speaking up.
“When you are given that duty of care, you are supposed to be the protector. You are supposed to create that environment where children will be able to come to you, right?”
Dr Adjei is Ashesi University’s Director of International Programs and Campus Cohesion, and its Safeguarding Lead.
Her comments follow Manasseh Azure Awuni’s investigation, Inside the Dreaded Headmaster’s Bungalow. It examines allegations of sexual abuse against Obuasi SHTS headmaster Zakaria Abdulai.
The investigation found that authorities received complaints months before they suspended him.
The Ghana Education Service has interdicted the headmaster pending investigations. A complaint has also been lodged with the police.
Dr Adjei said the first boundary was crossed when children were allowed to run personal errands for staff.
“Where children are going to the headmaster’s house, that is the first level that shouldn’t have happened,” she said.
She argued that asking students to collect and carry food was inappropriate in itself. Her concern extended beyond where the food was delivered.
The second failure, she said, concerned students’ confidence in the school’s reporting system.
Referring to an account discussed on the programme, she said a girl had not felt comfortable reporting her experiences herself.
“It took the girl’s house prefect to go and report, and the girl had several experiences.”
Dr Adjei also cited an account of the girl being hospitalised after being caned. She said nothing had been done about it.
For her, these accounts raised questions about whether the school had created conditions in which children could seek help.
“So the second layer, where an environment that doesn’t support speaking up when some of these things happen, was also broken,” she said.
She maintained that the school’s responsibility included giving students the confidence to approach someone with their concerns.
“The school did not create that environment for the children, for the young children to be able to have that confidence to report to anyone.”