The Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies (IFES), Dr. Peter Anti Partey, has said the reported cases of sexual misconduct in schools show how deep-rooted the problem has become in the educational system.
He says such sensitive matters need thorough attention and not a rush to roll out interventions that cannot be sustained.
Speaking on Ghana Tonight on TV3 on Monday, October 26, 2026, in reaction to a statistics which showed a total of 44 reported school sexual misconduct cases, with 26 cases (59%) recorded in basic schools and 18 cases (41%) in Senior High Schools, Dr. Partey said the issue requires a measured approach rather than hasty policy announcements.
His comments were on the back of the data which indicated that most reported incidents occur in basic schools, followed by senior high schools. This came up after the sexual abuse scandal at the Obuasi Senior High Technical School which is currently under investigation.
According to Dr. Partey, the figures point to the disturbing nature of the issue and the need for deeper reflection instead of reactionary measures.
“It tells us the bad nature of these issues and the more reason we should pay particular attention to it and not to be in a rush to put out certain measures that we know we cannot follow through,” he stated.
He said the data suggests the problem is now entrenched in the school system and should not be the case.
“It tells us that this is becoming systemic and part of our educational system which should not be the case and that is why anybody who would want to deal with this and tackle this and tackle the problem head-on, should not be reactionary should not be in a haste to start putting out certain measures that we know we’ll not be able to follow through,” he said.
Dr. Anti Partey further called for calm heads in addressing the situation, arguing that effective policies are not formulated in a rush.
“It calls for calm heads at this time. Policy making is not well made when it’s done in a rush. We should now calm down, a little relaxed, and really delve deeper to find out the reason why at the basic level, these are kids who do not even know their left from their rights,” he noted.
He said there is the need to properly sensitise pupils at the basic level and put in place mechanisms to support victims and deal with perpetrators.
“What can we do to ensure that these are well exposed to the issues that they need to know so that when they get themselves involved in this, we’ll be able to help them and deal with the people who got them in this,” he added.
We don’t need new policies, we need enforcement of existing ones – Anti Partey on abuse in SHSs
