Adutwum calls for mandatory annual child protection training for school staff

Former Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has called for mandatory child protection training for teachers and other education workers at the beginning of every academic year as part of efforts to prevent sexual abuse in schools.

He said the training should be compulsory for all school staff, with participants required to acknowledge that they have received instruction on child protection and understand the conduct expected of them.

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ The Pulse, Dr Adutwum said the measure would help ensure that teachers understand their responsibilities towards students and the consequences of inappropriate conduct.

“If we start the mandatory training, the teachers sign that I've been trained and these are things that I don't do,” he said.

Dr Adutwum said abuse could begin with seemingly minor incidents before escalating, making early recognition and intervention essential.

“Sometimes we look at the extreme case, but we forget that it may have started in a small way and then graduated,” he said.

He argued that regular training would help teachers and other school workers recognise warning signs, understand appropriate professional boundaries and know when and how to report suspected abuse.

He also stressed the importance of ensuring that staff understand their reporting obligations rather than leaving individual schools to determine how complaints should be handled.

The proposal follows comments by Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu that the government is examining child protection practices in the United States.

Dr Adutwum said mandatory reporting and recurring child protection training should form part of any effort to draw lessons from the US system.

He argued that training should not be a one-off exercise but a recurring requirement at the beginning of each academic year, ensuring that school staff are regularly reminded of their obligations.

The proposal comes amid public concern over allegations of sexual abuse involving students at Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS).

The case has raised questions about how schools respond to complaints, whether staff recognise and report suspected abuse promptly, and what safeguards are needed to prevent further harm to students.

Dr Adutwum has proposed a broader package of reforms, including mandatory reporting of suspected abuse and fingerprint-based background checks before teacher licences are issued.

His latest call adds recurring child protection training to those proposals, with the aim of strengthening prevention and improving the response to suspected abuse across public and private schools.