The Guidance and Counseling Coordinator in the Yilo Krobo municipality has expressed grave concern over the pervasive teacher, student relationships in most schools in the country.
According to Madam Maku Teye, such unhealthy relationships have the potential of breaking down discipline in schools, resulting in the total loss of respect for the teachers by the students.
Ghana’s Teachers’ Code of Conduct explicitly warn teachers against any form of sexual engagements with students:
It says: ‘No teacher shall directly or indirectly do anything that may constitute sexual harassment of a pupil/student.’ ‘Any teacher who has carnal knowledge of any female or male pupil/student of any age, with or without his or her consent, shall be guilty of professional misconduct.’ ‘No teacher shall have any carnal knowledge of any pupil/student in his/her own school or in any educational institution with or without his/her consent,’ the code stipulates.
“This kind of relationship in schools leads to total loss of respect for any teacher who involves himself in the act and this is unfortunately extended to other teachers since involved students bring themselves to the same level as their teachers,” she admonished.
Madam Mary Maku Teye also condemned the habit of amorous relationships in most schools, particularly among students and between students and teachers.
The coordinator who said such relationships were “dangerous” counseled students against indulging in such acts especially while in school.
She said relationships were an emotional activity which if practiced by students could take a negative toll on their education.
“A relationship is a very emotional engagement and so student lovers spend all their time thinking about each other instead of using that time fruitfully by studying their books which is their future and they end up performing poorly in school and subsequently leading to failure in exminations,” she asserted.
Speaking in an interview with Captain Adabugar during the District Education Observer Programme, DEOP programme to educate the youth on the negative effects of relationships in schools, the Guidance and Counseling Coordinator said that the development also had the potential to increase the risk of contradicting sexually transmitted diseases.
“Such relationships could also lead to contractions of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV-AIDS or Gonorrhea among others,” she warned.
Student relationships, she maintained, could also result in unwanted pregnancies where students face the risk of dropping out of school altogether.
“School relationships could result in unwanted, teenage pregnancies and school dropouts which finally becomes a burden to the parents of the victims and the victims themselves
“This is because some of the teenagers do not have responsible parents to take care of them,” she added.
Madam Maku Teye therefore called on parents to exhibit greater responsibility towards the raising of their children especially the females since shirking this responsibility remains a remote care is one of the main causes of dating in school.
STAR-Ghana with financial funding from DANIDA, Ukaid and the European Union is supporting Rite FM in the ongoing District Education Observer Project (DEOP II) which seeks to help improve the academic performance of 10 schools in the Yilo Krobo Municipality.
Source; Prince Paul Amuzu/ritefmoline.org/princeamuzu667@gmail.com
