Court bans teacher from writing external examination for two years

Kumasi, Dec 06, GNA - A Kumasi circuit court on Monday banned a 45-year-old teacher from writing external examinations for two years for impersonation and in addition fined 500,000 cedis. Stephen Adjei Gyeabour of Nyinatease Catholic Primary School who pleaded guilty to the charge will serve a two-year jail term in hard labour in default.

The court, after deciding to ban Gyeabour from teaching and imposing a custodial sentence on him as a way of protecting the pupils from being affected by his behaviour, later changed the decision to a fine after his counsel had assured the court that his client had promised to be of good behaviour and the fact that he was the only teacher in the school.

Chief Inspector Comfort Baffour Kyei told the court that on November 10, Mr Prosper Agbanu, an administrator at the Kumasi office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and complainant, was issuing certificates to candidates who had taken general examinations. When it came to the turn of the accused to receive his certificate, Mr Agbanu realized that the passport picture on the certificate collection form did not match the one on the candidate's file at WAEC but the name on both documents was the same. The prosecution said the complainant became suspicious and handed over Gyeabour to the police.

Gyeabour told the police that in 1992, he went to the WAEC office to buy a form to register for the November/December General Certificate Examination (GCE) Ordinary Level where he met a young man whose name he could not remember.

She said the accused then complained to the young man that he was not good in mathematics and English and needed help to which the young man obliged and took Gyeabour's particulars and consequently wrote the two papers in his (Gyeabour's) name. The prosecution said the accused also told the police that it was one Asante Mensah, now deceased, who arranged for the young man to write the examination for him.