Teachers Are Mentors, Not Lovers – GES Educationist Speaks Out
A passionate appeal has been made to male teachers across the country to desist from engaging in amorous relationships with their female students, as such acts continue to destroy the confidence, future, and dignity of the girl child.
The call, made by Ɔpanyin Wireko, a concerned teacher and educationist within the Ghana Education Service (GES), has reignited conversations about the safety of female students in schools and the sacred responsibility teachers hold as guardians of knowledge and morality.
In a strongly worded open letter, Ɔpanyin Wireko lamented the disturbing trend of some male teachers exploiting the admiration and respect students have for them. He described the act not just as misconduct but as a betrayal of trust that scars victims for life. “Dear young male teacher and old ones alike, their admiration is not permission. Their smiles are not an invitation. Their boldness is not maturity. They are still children — tender, vulnerable, and figuring out their emotions,” he cautioned.
According to him, what some female students feel towards their teachers is not love but confusion masked as admiration, and it is the duty of every teacher to maintain strong professional boundaries. He warned that once a teacher crosses that sacred line, something vital dies in the girl child — her confidence, her future, and her right to grow up whole and safe.c
The educationist narrated that countless young girls have had their education truncated due to inappropriate relationships with teachers. Some, he said, dropped out with pregnancies; others lost focus in class; many became trapped in unhealthy relationships, while several continue to live with unhealed emotional wounds.
“Sadly, many still blame themselves for coming to you for help. You were supposed to be her mentor, her light, her guide. Instead, you became her first heartbreak, her first betrayal, her first shame,” he lamented.
Ɔpanyin Wireko further stressed that no justification can ever excuse a teacher’s misconduct with a student. “Don’t tell yourself it’s love — it’s not. Don’t say she started it — she didn’t. Don’t say others have done it — that’s no excuse. The truth is, many male teachers have ruined the destiny of the girl child in the name of love. And nobody talks about it enough,” he charged.
He urged teachers to be disciplined, resist temptation, and protect the classroom as a sacred space of learning, growth, and safety. In his words: “You are not just teaching a subject; you are shaping a soul. Be the teacher she will write about with pride, not pain.”
Ending his statement, the educationist reminded male teachers that female students are not their wives and must be treated with respect and professional boundaries. He called for collective action to end what he described as a “madness” that continues to derail the future of many brilliant girls.
“Let the classroom be a place of growth, not trauma. Leave the girl child alone. Let her grow. Let her breathe. Let her be safe,” he concluded.
