A teacher at Ekumpoano Catholic Basic School, Stephen Desu, has made disturbing allegations about sexual misconduct in Ghanaian schools, claiming that some male teachers compete with male students for female students and even punish boys who attempt to establish relationships with girls they are interested in.

According to him, some teachers allegedly take advantage of their positions to pursue female students, while others engage in transactional sexual relationships in which girls receive money in exchange for sex.

Speaking in an interview on Joy News on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, Desu alleged that the situation had become particularly worrying at the senior high school level, where some teachers reportedly use their authority to intimidate male students they consider rivals.

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He claimed that male students who attempt to get close to girls being pursued by certain teachers risk facing punishment until they abandon their interest in those girls.

“It's like sometimes they are fighting male students over the girls they are interested in,” he alleged.

“Yes, over girls in the schools. And if you try to get close to those girls, those teachers will punish you, punish you till you leave those girls alone,” he added.

Desu further alleged that sexual misconduct involving teachers and students was not restricted to senior high schools, although he believed the situation was more prevalent at that level.

“At the primary level, the problem is there. At the JHS level, it's there. But it's worse. It's worse at the SHS level,” he stated.
He also claimed that some teachers deliberately seek postings to senior high schools because of opportunities to pursue inappropriate sexual relationships with female students.

According to him, such conduct is allegedly known within some school communities, but concerns about the behaviour of certain teachers are not always openly discussed.

“And almost every school, if all of us will be politically correct with everything, everybody is aware that almost every school, there is one or there are two teachers who are engaged in this,” he alleged.

Touching on the financial aspect of the alleged misconduct, Mr Desu asserted that some female students position themselves to obtain money from male teachers, while the teachers receive sex in return.

“There are girls in schools who position themselves to sexually exploit teachers for their money whilst teachers get sex from them in a transactional relationship,” he said.

He explained that financial difficulties, particularly challenges involving food and other basic necessities, could expose female students to sexual exploitation by teachers.

Desu alleged that during periods when food shortages became a concern in schools, some teachers provided financial assistance to female students in exchange for sexual favours.

“Especially when this food issue came up in our schools, where they're not getting food. Some teachers stepped up, and they were giving the girls money, and they were exchanging sex for the money they were giving them,” he claimed.

He consequently urged parents to pay closer attention to how their daughters survive financially while in school, particularly when they receive little or no financial support from home.
“If you leave your girl child in school and you don't support her with money and she's surviving, you as a parent, what makes you think that that child is surviving just because she's just there?” he questioned.

Despite describing teaching as a noble profession, Mr Desu acknowledged that some individuals within the educational sector could engage in predatory behaviour that undermines the integrity of the profession.

He stressed that the large number of teachers in Ghana's educational system made it possible for individuals with inappropriate intentions to find their way into classrooms.

“I mean, all professions can boast, but the teacher taught them all. So we position ourselves as the noble profession. Unfortunately, if you have more than 300,000 persons in your classroom as teachers, you may get such persons as predators,” he stated.

His allegations come amid growing public concern over a sexual abuse scandal involving female students at Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS).

The school's headmaster, Zakaria Abdulai, has reportedly been interdicted by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and arrested by the police as investigations into the allegations continue.



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