Today in History: Teacher Kwadwo details how his headmaster betrayed him

In 2022, Michael Owusu Afriyie, a Ghanaian professional teacher who also serves as a media personality, shared his story about a headmaster's betrayal that resulted in his dismissal by the Ghana Education Service (GES) in 2021.

Read the story below as published on September 29, 2022.

Ghanaian professional teacher who doubles as a media personality, Michael Owusu Afriyie, known chiefly as Teacher Kwadwo has narrated how a headmaster betrayed him leading to his dismissal by the Ghana Education Service (GES) back in 2021.

Teacher Kwadwo who is known to be a 'people-person' at the Akrofrom District Assembly Primary School in the Ashanti Region was sacked for insubordination and misconduct. He was also tagged as incompetent.

According to a GES statement, he was absent from school for 55 days in an academic year.

But explaining his side of the story once again, the dismissed teacher claimed that his headmaster whom he gave his name as Timothy, granted him permission to be absent from school on Fridays due to a programme he was running on television.

He maintained that authorities from his district hated him for no reason, leading them to plot evil against his career despite his service to the school.

"Some people from the district plotted against me when I started my donations to the school. I can't tell if it was jealousy or maybe they were mad I was rather working... I was the one forcing to get the students better education but they claimed I was always absent from class. That was the genesis of all my woes.

"Every Saturday, I was on United Showbiz where I run my programme. After I close from teaching, I rush to Accra. On some days, I get to Kumasi at 12 am at dawn. I will sleep on the bus and get to Accra around 5 am. It was during the back and forth that my headmaster one time had a conversation with me. He talked about the help I give the children with the money I make and so he wanted to do something that can help release the stress and burden on me.

"He said that in my class, we had two teachers and so he said that Fridays will be given to me as off-days simply because the students lose nothing... We all had a meeting over that because it wasn't bad even though it wasn't a government decision... We made sure that the students were not going to lose... From there, I was travelling to Accra on Fridays... It went on for two months," Teacher Kwadwo disclosed in an interview on Mahyease TV Show with Afia Amankwaah Tamakloe.

He continued: "Although I had Fridays off, I sometimes came to school to sort things out. Even my master was like okay if you will come on Friday, that's up to you... On days when I asked for permission to be absent, he can say that the time wasn't favourable so don't go... I guess the district hated me for that and so they went into the Time Book where we signed. They accumulated it and said it all accounted for 51 days. I told them that I didn't run from school but sought permission from my Master to be absent."

Teacher Kwadwo received the shock of his life when his headmaster testified that he never consented to his decision to be outside the classroom on Fridays or any other day.

Speaking in the interview monitored by GhanaWeb, he noted that his headmaster feared losing his position, the reason he betrayed him despite having a teacher testify that indeed he consented to that arrangement.

"When my master was called, I guess he was afraid, he also denied ever permitting me to be absent. I screamed 'Timothy, how could you?' I have toiled for these students, I gave them laptops, supplied the school team with football boots, and 4 brand new TVs. I even renovated the school, so I asked why could Timothy do that to me. The authorities then said that my master claims not to have had anything to do with my absenteeism. One of my colleagues even testified that the master granted me permission after a meeting but that didn't convince them," he lamented.

Meanwhile, part of the GES letter that explained its decision to sack the popular teacher read: “He further even refused to respond to a query issued to him by the District Director and in addition refused to appear before a panel set up by the District Director to investigate his conduct.”