Academic works at Aduman Aduman Senior High School in the Afigya Kwabre district of the Ashanti Region has been under serious threat as teachers are demanding the immediate removal of the school’s headmaster Francis Yao Agorsor for assaulting Mathematics tutor.

A section of the teachers and non-teaching staff have submitted a number of petitions to the education ministry and the education service complaining the headmaster disrespects and assaults teachers.

Francis Yao Agorsor who also the former Headmaster of Jacobu Senior High Technical School, JASTECH, in the Amansie Central District of Ashanti was chased out from the school by irate youth for his intransigent leadership.

They claimed the headmaster has on several occasions extended a hostile attitude towards the parents and PTA of the school walking out on them during meetings.

In January this year, 85 out of the 99 teaching and non-teaching staff submitted a number of petitions to the education ministry and the education service demanding that the headmaster be removed from office.

They accused Mr Agorsor of disrespecting and abusing teachers at will.

A three member committee was set up to investigate the claims after the teachers staged a sit down strike by the Ashanti Regional Director of Education, selected some members of staff (petitioners and non-petitioners) and gave them 2 options to choose from without teachers' knowledge of the contents of the Report and the White Paper:

The reports said either teachers decide to stay with the Headmaster or 34 teachers would be transferred from the school. 29/03/18

The petitioners held a meeting and communicated their resolution in writing to the Regional Director through the District Director that, they could not decide without reading the report. The teachers later accepted under duress that the report be implemented but they are still requesting for the Report and the White Paper. 03/04/18

They questioned why is the Headmaster, Francis Yao Agorsor, still at post? And why are the petitioners/teachers denied a copy of the report and the White Paper? Why should students suffer because of one person’s (the Headmaster’s) antagonistic attitude? What remarkable success has the Headmaster chalked apart from abusing teachers that makes it difficult for him to leave the school? Is there any rot or financial malfeasance that he wants to conceal?

But the teachers complained they have not received any response from the committee which was supposed to finish its work in two weeks.

Otecnews source has learnt that the Show of Disrespect to Teachers and Stakeholders; Show of Extreme Anger; Victimization and Vindictiveness and Lack of Respect for Teachers as well as the headmaster’s verbally and physically attacks on teachers are creating massive tension in the school and also affecting the academic activities.

The teachers insist all avenues to get the headmaster to amend his ways have proven unsuccessful.

His open assault of teachers is also an affront to proper moral upbringing of high school students. We, the teachers of Aduman Senior High School, think that, we will do our students, school and country as a whole a great disservice if we sit down unconcerned for a single person’s parochial interest to ruin the huge investment the government is making in our students hence our petition to your high office for his removal,” it added.

Read the full statement below;

PRESS RELEASE

GES HIDES REPORT AND WHITE PAPER ON INVESTIGATIONS CONDUCTED INTO TEACHERS’ PETITION REQUESTING THE REMOVAL OF THE HEADMASTER, MR. FRANCIS YAO AGORSOR (FORMER HEADMASTER, JACOBU SHS) FROM THE SCHOOL, BUT THREATENS TO TRANSFER 34 TEACHERS FROM THE SCHOOL.

The Petitioners of the Aduman Senior High School wish to inform the general public that:

1. The five-point petition never touched on any extra-class issue as its being peddled in some circles.

2. The first Petition was given to the Headmaster complaining of his verbal abuse of teachers which he slighted by not even acknowledging receipt of the letter let alone making himself available for amicable solution to the problem. 27/11/17

3. The second petition was to the School Board of Governors stating we could no longer work with the Headmaster – Francis Yao Agorsor. 06/12/17

4. The third request, was delivered to the Director-General and the Minister of Education through the District and Regional Directors of Education, Ashanti and Afigya Kwabre respectively, requesting the removal of the Headmaster from the school. 18/12/17

5. A 3-Member Committee was set up and subsequently inaugurated in the school’s Dining Hall by the Ashanti Regional Director of Education, Mrs Mary Owusu Achiaw 23/01/18

6. The Committee completed its work on 30-01-2018 and submitted its findings after one week i.e. 7th February, 2018.

After, the relationship between the teachers and the Headmaster, Francis Yao Agorsor, became more estranged, the Headmaster went on a self-imposed office arrest, he could no longer move freely on the school compound, no staff meetings were held; the Headmaster refused to sign teachers’ promotion forms.

Teachers relinquished key non-core duties because of the stack lies in the Headmaster’s response to the teachers’ petition which was submitted by the headmaster to the Committee on the first day of the Committee's sitting, etc.

7. The petitioners made a formal request for the report but received no response.

8. The Deputy Director-General, GES, Mr. Anthony Boateng, visited the school and asked the teachers to restore the school to normalcy which teachers obliged. He promised to resolve the impasse before he left for Accra on Thursday, 22nd March, 2018 which didn’t materialise. The school returned to normalcy on that same day but the relationship between the Headmaster and the teachers became estranged day after day. 19/03/18

9. The Ashanti Regional Director of Education, selected some members of staff (petitioners and non-petitioners) and gave them 2 options to choose from without teachers' knowledge of the contents of the Report and the White Paper:

1. Either teachers decide to stay with the Headmaster OR
2. 34 teachers would be transferred from the school. 29/03/18

10. The petitioners held a meeting and communicated their resolution in writing to the Regional Director through the District Director that, they could not decide without reading the report. The teachers later accepted under duress that the report be implemented but the they are still requesting for the Report and the White Paper. 03/04/18

11. To Date, though the Headmaster, Francis Yao Agorsor, still remains at post and continues to abuse teachers and does not want to have anything to do with teachers(petitioners), the Regional Directorate has started transferring staff members of the school. For instance, two (2) matrons of the school, who were forthright about the contents of the petition, when the media, they did not invite spoke to them, have been transferred.

QUESTIONS

1. Why is the Headmaster, Francis Yao Agorsor, still at post?

2. Why are the petitioners/teachers denied a copy of the report and the White Paper?

3. Why should students suffer because of one person’s (the Headmaster’s) antagonistic attitude?

4. What remarkable success has the Headmaster chalked apart from abusing teachers that makes it difficult for him to leave the school? Is there any rot or financial malfeasance that he wants to conceal?

5. Why are the Teacher Associations,(GNAT, CCT and NAGRAT) not interested in getting copies of the Report and White paper, as compared to the Ejisuman SHS case?

5. What are the offences of the 2 Matrons who have been transferred from the school? Is freedom of fair speech no longer a fundamental human right?

6. What criteria were used in selecting and earmarking 34 out of the 85 staff/petitioners for transfer?

7. Why the threat of frustrating and likely blocking of teachers’ salaries when they go on transfer?

Going forward, answers to the above questions have become imperative because in the words of the Regional Director, if any financial malfeasance issues were established then the Headmaster would have been relieved of his duty.

It must be noted that we only went to the committee to answer questions on our petition and the Headmaster’s stack lie response.

Dated this Monday, the 23rd day of April, 2018.