Adutwum wants sex offenders register to screen teachers and school workers

Former Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has called for mandatory fingerprint background checks as a condition for teacher licensing, arguing that stronger vetting is needed to prevent individuals with relevant criminal records from working in schools. He has also proposed establishing a sex offenders register that would be checked against the fingerprints of teachers and other education workers before they are allowed to work in public or private schools. Speaking in an interview on JoyNews’ The Pulse , Dr Adutwum questioned the effectiveness of existing background checks, claiming that the current teacher licensing process does not adequately establish whether applicants have criminal records. “As it is now, if you want a teacher’s license, they would take your fingerprint to check whether you have any criminal record. They don’t check,” he said. Dr Adutwum warned that inadequate background screening could allow individuals who pose a risk to children to move between schools without effective safeguards. He said some alleged offenders could be transferred from one school to another as a disciplinary measure and continue engaging in unlawful activities against students. “If there’s a pedophile, he can move from one school to the other. Or they are transferred as punishment and then go and continue the same illegal activities on other students in wherever they are transferred to,” he said. He argued that fingerprint-based screening should be a prerequisite for employment in the education sector, citing practices in other jurisdictions where background clearance is required for people working with children. The former minister called for an amendment to the National Teaching Council Act to make fingerprint clearance a mandatory requirement before the National Teaching Council issues a teaching licence. “Amend the law. Make sure fingerprint is a condition. You may have passed your license exam, you may have done all these things, but the National Teaching Council should wait for your fingerprint clearance to issue you a license,” he said. Under his proposal, passing the teacher licensing examination would not be sufficient on its own. Applicants would also have to complete the prescribed background screening before receiving their licences. Dr Adutwum also called for a sex offenders register that could be checked against the fingerprints of teachers and other education workers. He said the system should cover employees in both public and private schools to help identify individuals whose records raise concerns about their suitability to work with children. “Because if you don’t have that, and of course, sex offenders register finds expression in the CID database, that is when every education worker, before you can step into any school, public or private, you have to go through the process of doing the fingerprint so that it’s checked against the register,” he said. He added that a positive match could prevent an individual from entering a classroom, depending on the findings and applicable legal provisions. Dr Adutwum’s proposals come amid heightened public concern over child protection following allegations of sexual abuse involving students at Obuasi Senior High Technical School (SHTS). The case has prompted questions about how schools handle complaints, how allegations are investigated and what safeguards exist to prevent individuals accused of abuse from gaining access to other students. He said stronger screening and verification mechanisms were necessary to close gaps in the education system. “These are the gaps that we need to bridge in order to make sure we can protect our precious students,” he said.