Almost 95% of the senior high schools named in reported sexual abuse cases since 2015 are Category B or C. The figure reflects school numbers, not a safer Category A. It comes as 313,283 candidates picked Category A first in the 2026 placement, for 76,417 declared vacancies.

JoyNews Research analysed 44 reported cases of teachers and school heads accused of sexually abusing students. Eighteen were in senior high schools, naming 19 distinct SHSs that match the Ministry of Education’s 2026 Second Cycle Public Schools Register. One is Category A, seven are Category B and 11 are Category C. The data does not show why parents choose the schools they do, and it does not prove that Category A is safer.

Where the reported cases are

Category

SHSs in reports

Share of SHSs in reports

A15.3%B736.8%C1157.9%

All

19

100%

Source: Media Monitoring/JoyNews Research calculations; Ministry of Education 2026 Second Cycle Public Schools Register

Categories B and C account for 18 of the 19 schools (94.7%), largely because most schools in the register are Category B or C. Category A makes up 8.2% of schools in the register, so about 1.6 of the 19 would be expected to be Category A if reports were spread evenly. The actual count is one. That gap is less than one school, too small to suggest Category A is safer.

The only Category A school is St Louis SHS in Kumasi, where a rape-related interdiction was recorded in 2018.

• Category B:

  KNUST SHS, Kumasi Girls SHS, Labone SHS, Benkum SHS, Okadjakrom SHTS, St Francis SHTS (Akim Oda) and Nkwatia Presby SHS.

• Category C:

  Ejisuman SHS, Sawla SHS, Obuasi SHTS, Dzodze-Penyi SHS, Bole SHS, Asankrangwa SHS, Assin Manso SHS, Nyankumasi SHS, Obiri Yeboah SHS, St Joseph SHS (Mampong) and Assin North Community Day.

Of the six SHS cases since January 2025, three involved Category B schools and three Category C. None involved Category A. Six cases are too few to show a difference.

Category A demand far exceeds its seats

Category

First-choice candidates

Declared vacancies

Gap

A313,28376,417236,866 more candidates than seatsB176,614250,36673,752 vacancies beyond first choicesC123,577468,652345,075 vacancies beyond first choices

Source: Ministry of Education/2026 Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS)

The placement data shows 4.1 first-choice candidates for every Category A place. Category A holds 9.6% of the 795,435 vacancies declared in Categories A, B and C, yet drew 51.1% of the 613,474 first choices made across those categories. The Ministry put total declared vacancies at 859,828; on that base, Category A’s share is 8.9%.

Categories B and C together declared 719,018 vacancies. That is 114,451 more than the 604,567 candidates who qualified for placement in 2026.

The Ministry said 527,932 qualified candidates (87.3%) were placed automatically. Deputy Education Minister Dr Clement Apaak said on September 8, 2026 that the remaining 76,635 were not automatically placed, largely because of high demand for Category A schools. He described the problem as a mismatch between where vacancies exist and where candidates want to go, not a shortage of places.

Vacancies are also not interchangeable: they depend on programme, boarding or day status, gender and location.

Does Category A mean safer?

The evidence does not support that assumption. Reported cases appear in all three categories, and Category A’s share of them (5.3%) is in line with its small share of schools (8.2%).

Nor can the data say why candidates prefer Category A. Academic performance, reputation, facilities, boarding and perceptions of safety may all play a part. Neither dataset shows how much weight families give to each.

The central question is whether parents have access to reliable, comparable information on safeguarding in individual schools. A school’s category label does not provide that assurance. However, the concentration of reported sexual abuse cases in particular school categories could influence parental preferences and, potentially, demand for those schools. Whether it has actually done so requires further evidence.

Accountability remains a gap

The last time the Ghana Education Service published the names and schools of teachers it had dismissed was November 2018. That list named 10 teachers. Six were sacked for sexual misconduct, four of them at senior high schools, none of which is Category A.

GES has since reported more dismissals without names. On October 15, 2026, Deputy Director-General Dr Issahaque Munawaru said the GES Council had approved about 15 dismissals this month in sexual harassment cases dating back to 2021. On October 20, GES announced that 10 teachers had been dismissed and one appointment terminated for sexual misconduct. Neither announcement named the teachers or their schools.

In the cases JoyNews Research reviewed, recent SHS cases show interdictions with no public final outcome, and no SHS head has been convicted. These findings reflect the records reviewed and are not proof that no further disciplinary action has occurred.

Without names or schools, parents cannot link outcomes to the allegations they have heard about, or judge how consistently cases are handled. In a placement system this competitive, transparent safeguarding records would tell families more than a category label.