NAGRAT says 38 Obuasi teachers told to leave after criticising head

The president of the National Association of Graduate Teachers has said 38 teachers at Obuasi Senior High Technical School were told to leave after criticising headmaster Zakaria Abdulai, who faces allegations of sexually abusing students.

Jacob Anaba made the claim on Joy News' PM Express on Monday 19 October 2026, following an investigation by the correspondent Manasseh Azure Awuni into allegations involving at least 14 students.

Mr Anaba said the development raised serious questions about how complaints against the headmaster had been handled and why teachers who allegedly spoke out were asked to go.

"As I speak to you, 38 teachers were being asked to leave the school. What was the reason?" he asked.

He alleged that the directive followed the work of a fact-finding committee chaired by the district director of education, who he said had instructed the assistant headmaster to communicate the decision to the teachers.

Mr Anaba said reports of the alleged abuse dated back to 2025, with students and parents raising concerns before the matter drew wider public attention in August 2026.

He urged that the law take its course regardless of the profession of those involved.

"You see, this Ghana belongs to all of us. We have to protect the Ghana that we all belong to," he said.

"So, if a member of us, a teacher, does the wrong thing, he must be taken through the due course of the law. No one should be shielded. No one," he demanded.

Mr Anaba argued that allegations of such gravity were incompatible with the responsibility teachers owed their students. He said the headmaster should not be allowed to remain in the profession if the allegations were established.

"This man should leave immediately. He can't be a teacher again, because the profession that we decide to belong to is a noble one," he said.

He added that teachers held a position of trust in their dealings with students.

"You have a fiduciary relationship with the student that you are handling. We may make mistakes, but not this type of mistake," he said.

The headmaster has reportedly been interdicted and suspended. The allegations remain subject to investigation, and any disciplinary or criminal findings must follow the appropriate procedures. It was not immediately clear whether Mr Abdulai had responded to the allegations.

The Conference of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools has backed the interdiction. Its National Secretary, Primus Baro, told the same programme that step-aside procedures align with the principles of natural justice and due process.

"That is the process, and this one is directly in line with the general premises of a Ghanaian law setting that, I mean, you are not guilty until you are proven guilty," Mr Baro said. "So definitely, that is the way to go."

He added: "So he's been interdicted, he's been set aside, then based on the outcome of what the investigation will be, then further actions will be taken. So that's what the law says, so we definitely will support that."

Mr Baro said the association's Ashanti Regional Chairman had followed the matter from the outset.

"Well, like I indicated, when the issue happened, our representative there, the Ashanti Regional Chairman, has always been involved," he explained. "So all the complaints and inputs and comments that we have all alluded to in the investigation that has been taken up, of course, we have heard them. So once we are represented, we have heard those complaints."

A full documentary on the case aired on 19 October 2026. In it, students whose identities were withheld alleged they were assaulted at the headmaster's bungalow. One claimed he gave her GH¢100 to keep quiet, and both alleged threats if they spoke out.

The investigation will determine what further action is taken against the headmaster.