The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum has launched a sexual harassment awareness and prevention policy intended to make the school environment safe for students in pre-tertiary educational establishments.

The policy developed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) contains guidelines on what constitutes sexual harassment, avenues for awareness creation for teachers and students, opportunities for training stakeholders on sexual harassment, and punitive regimes for culprits.

Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, speaking at the event at the ongoing 2023 National Education Week in Accra on the theme "Education Delivery for National Transformation: The Case for STEM and TVET," said, the development of the guidelines was timely, especially when the country was undergoing a "major reform in education".

The National Education Week 2023 serves as a platform for stakeholders to engage in meaningful discussions, exchange ideas, and chart a course for the future of education in Ghana.

He explained that the intended outcomes of the reforms in the education sector would not be achieved if the school environment was not safe, adding that while those reforms were being pursued, it was also necessary to make sure that a safe learning environment was provided for children.

Dr. Adutwum said although he believed in the professionalism of the Ghanaian teacher, the reality was that in a perfect world, there could be imperfection, "and that is why this policy has been developed to ensure that nobody does anything untoward to children, whether male or female".

He noted that what the GES had done by providing a guideline on sexual harassment in schools was not a novelty because, across the world, such measures had been implemented to keep children safe so that they could develop their knowledge and become responsible citizens.

He said "The punishment for sexual harassment is what the country's laws prescribe. "No adult should take advantage of any student in any school at any level in this country; because if you do that the law will catch up with you’’.

The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, however, called on all stakeholders, including school authorities, parents, opinion leaders, and civil society organizations (CSOs) to rally around the policy to ensure that it would succeed.