Adutwum proposes criminal sanctions for teachers who fail to report child abuse
Former Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum wants laws that force teachers and medical professionals to report suspected child sexual abuse. He suggests that people who fail to report such abuse should face criminal sanctions. The former minister believes reporting should be a legal duty instead of a personal choice. He argues that the current system in Ghana depends too much on the Ghana Education Service to manage these cases. Stronger legal obligations are necessary to ensure students are protected. He discussed these views during an interview on JoyNews’ The Pulse.
Former Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has called for mandatory reporting laws requiring teachers, medical professionals and other relevant professionals to report suspected child sexual abuse, with criminal sanctions for those who fail to do so. He argues that Ghana’s current system relies too heavily on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to handle abuse cases, making stronger legal obligations and enforcement necessary to protect students. Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ The Pulse, Dr Adutwum said reporting suspected abuse should be a legal duty rather than a matter of personal discretion. “As a medical doctor who gets wind of this, a child comes and you know that he has been abused, it's not optional for you to say I'm not reporting. A teacher who observes something going on, it's not optional. You have to report. So it becomes part of the law,” he said.