Judge condemns parents who attack teachers

Techiman (B/A), Nov. 22, GNA - Mr. Erasmus Gyinae, a circuit court judge at Techiman has condemned the practice by some parents to attack teachers who punish their children at school.

He described the practice as "childish" and called for greater efforts to stamp it out of the Ghanaian society.

The Judge made the remark while sentencing a 41-year-old farmer, Kwabena Fori of Forikrom, near Techiman, to two years imprisonment in hard labour for assaulting a female teacher.

Fori who first appeared before the court on October 30 this year, pleaded guilty on two counts of unlawfully assaulting Madam Cecilia Kumah, a teacher of Forikrom Seventh-Day Adventists (SDA) Day-Care Centre and resisting lawful arrest.

Mr. Gyinae noted with regret that assaults and molestations on public officials, especially schoolteachers, had become rampant in the country and must be curbed.

Mr. Gyinae said by sentencing Fori to a term of imprisonment he was sending a warning signal to like-minded parents to desist from the practice, "as teachers are trying to raise the academic levels of their children."

He advised teachers to demonstrate maturity and professionalism to withstand problems created by some parents.

On October 21 this year, while Madam Kumah was busy teaching, Fori walked into the classroom with his three-and-a-half year old daughter, a pupil and assaulted the teacher.

Prosecuting Chief Inspector Sampson Y. Jebuni said the accused confronted the teacher as to why she did not sent his sick daughter to the Forikrom health centre the previous day but rather sent her home.

When Madam Kumah kept mute, Fori became infuriated, pounced on her, seized a pen from the teacher and stabbed her on the lower part of the left eye with it.