Asumura (B/A), Dec. 19, GNA - Teachers in the Asumura Circuit in the Asunafo District have threatened to withdraw their services if the District Education Directorate does not act swiftly to stop the persistent assault on teachers in the area.

Mr Aboagye Da-costa, the Asumura Local Chairman of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), told the Ghana News Agency that harassment of teachers in the area was on the increase.

He said there had been three unprovoked attacks on some teachers. In the first incident the Circuit Sports Organiser Mr Stephen Owusu Ansah was beaten up by a KIA tipper truck driver identified only as Kwao for allegedly breaching a contract with the driver. The driver, who was billed to convey a team for a football match at a stipulated time, failed to turn up thus compelling the sports organizer to engage the services of another driver. ''This, the tipper driver felt, constituted enough grounds for him to subject his client to severe pummelling.''

The second incident, Mr Da-costa said, involved the Headteacher of Atom Basic School, Mr Damuah Ababio, who was dragged out of his classroom into a nearby bush where five strong men subjected him to severe molestation for punishing his pupils who went to school late that day.

Mr Da-costa said some people rescued Mr Ababio after his pupils had raised the alarm.

In the third instance, Mr J. Y. Oppong, Headteacher of Manukrom Basic School, also in the same circuit, suffered a mob attack from irate youth of the town for failing to comply with their orders.

According to the angry teachers, a former student of the school, Peter Aryeh, approached the Headteacher in the night of November 17 and ordered him to go back to the school and bring his certificate but the Headteacher pleaded with the young man to come the next day since it was too late to go back to the school.

Mr Da-costa said Aryeh then got infuriated and with the assistance of four accomplices pounced on the Headteacher and his wife and beat them up.

The Asumura Police have so far apprehended one of Mr Oppong's assailants.

Mr Wilfred Duku-Dengah, District GNAT Secretary, has appealed to the District Education Directorate to take immediate steps to avert any possible boycott of classes by teachers in the area. Mr Duku-Dengah said his Office would embark on programme to meet opinion leaders in the area with a view to improving the relationships between the communities and the teachers.