Child Rights International (CRI)  says it has no confidence in the Ghana Education Service (GES) to protect school children in matters of sexual abuse and other violations of their human rights.

According to the Executive Director of CRI, Bright Kweku Appiah, the GES has over the years proven to not have the strength to deal with such issues.

Although he acknowledges the safety mechanisms rolled out by GES to address issues of abuse and violations of the rights of students, Bright Appiah stressed, during a press briefing, that those mechanisms have failed to yield fruitful results.

"Ghana Education Service has instituted all kinds of committees to deal with matters of child protection in our schools and we've never seen what they've done yielding any results. So, we think that Ghana Education Service cannot be trusted as an institution to deal with child protection issues. So, for that matter, we think that for children to be able to enjoy their fundamental right to protection, dignity and privacy, there is a need for the State to begin to rethink about how our child protection system should look like within our schools," he lamented.

His comments come on the heels of recent reports of sexual abuse at the Obuasi Senior High Technical School.

In a documentary by investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure, the headmaster of the school, Zakaria Abdulai, is accused of sexually abusing multiple female students.

This alleged unlawful and uncouth behavior of the headmaster has invited public outburst, the attention of the security agencies and the government.

Zakaria Abdulai is currently suspended as the headmaster of Obuasi SHTS at the behest of the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu.

Also, he was reportedly constesting the Juaben Constituency Chairmanship election but the news of his involvement in sexual misconduct has jeopardized his political ambition as the ruling National Democratic Congress has admonished him to either resign or be disqualified from the party's impending constituency elections.

In respect of this developing story, the Child Rights International boss has appealed to government to set up an independent body to oversee the welfare of students because, to them, the Ghana Education Service cannot effectively execute this mandate.

"Child Right International is calling for an establishment of an independent school counselling and child protection oversight mechanisms in our schools. And what we are saying is that the counselling unit of the Ghana Education Service should be elevated to the level of authority to gain that greater independence and authority to enable it to operate effectively and to provide oversight and supervision of child welfare and protection matters within our schools."