EDITORIAL: A Teacher�s improper Conduct

That it is important for parents to be watchful about their children twenty four hours a day, found credence last week when a mother�s query led to a discovery which can break the heart of many a parent. It was at Tema�s Mystical Rose Nursery School where a 47-year-old teacher inserted ground ginger into the private part of a 3-year-old girl because, according to her, the kid was disturbing in class. A vigilant mother, when she spotted the unusual steps of her daughter after school, enquired from the little girl and discovered that ginger had been inserted into her private part. Amazing and outright wickedness! It was good the mother of the little girl who had blood clots in her private part called in the Police who are ably handling the case. We are worried about this development because it involves a minor and an adult teacher, something we could not have imagined two decades ago. If this is not irresponsibility of the highest order, then we cannot think of any. It is becoming difficult to have the peace of mind which parents should have when they entrust their kids to the care of teachers. We have been told that by their special position of being the first line of moulders of our kids, nursery teachers are given special training. The importance of this training cannot be over-emphasised but whether this impacts on the output of those who undergo it or not is another matter, as the Tema Mystical Rose Nursery School has showed. Perhaps, we can state that their training notwithstanding, there is the need for headmasters, headmistress and indeed school proprietors and officials from the Ghana Education Service (GES) to, as a matter of necessity, keep a tab on the performance of teachers. Had the headmistress or proprietor of the school been watchful, they would have observed that something unusual had taken place. This should not be limited to the KGs but throughout the school system, because as a microcosm of the society, the teaching occupation or profession has its fair share of bad nuts. We would have rather the profession or occupation is peopled by persons who are there because of an inner calling. There is no doubt that a situation where people turn to teaching as a last resort, is inimical to bringing up children under conditions which are not only humane, but conducive for their psychological development. The scar, which the treatment meted out to the little girl has left, would be difficult to clear. She would grow with it and for a long time to come, this victim of a teacher�s wickedness would be scared of teachers. This could affect her academic performance, as she would begin to shun school and classroom work. We however pray that she gets over it. We find it almost impossible to fathom why the teacher could be so cruel to the extent of doing what she did. As for the blood clots the kid�s mother discovered, only a doctor can establish what really happened. We are tempted to conclude that the teacher was angry at the time of inserting the foreign matter in the kid�s private part and that her fingers caused some bruises. Imagine what would have happened had the woman not been on her guard to notice that there was something unusual about her kid�s manner of walking. From irresponsible adults who defile under-aged girls to teachers who can insert hot ginger into the private parts of these kids, we can indisputably conclude that our children require extra attention from us. Gone are the days when children were safe walking in the streets, at school and elsewhere. No longer so today, as they are under the constant threat of being attacked by delinquent adults and even teachers, under whose care we entrust them. God save us.