A-G wants Great Lamptey Mills school shutdown

The Attorney General and Minister of Justice has recommended the closure of the Great Lamptey Mills Institute in Accra.

The proprietor and head of the school has been arrested and charged with rape and forced marriage of one of his students.

The A-G, Mrs. Betty Mould-Iddrisu wants the Ghana Education Service to apply sanctions provided by the Education Service Act.

The recommendations are contained in a seven-page document to the sector minister and the GES for action.

Enoch Nii Lamptey Mills, the 42-year old educationist and proprietor is also found guilty of professional misconduct.

Lamptey Mills is currently in police custody pending his trial for alleged rape and forced marriage.

The A-G ordered his re-arrest over his affair with a 16-year-old former student of the school.

His alleged acts, according to the A-G, have dented the image of the Education Service and only severe sanctions by the GES could help repair the damage.

Excerpts of the report is as follows;

According to the Attorney General, Enoch Nii Lamptey Mills acted in breach of section 2(1) and 2(2) of the Children's Act by having sexual relations with the 16-year old student, and getting her out of school after impregnating her.

He is also found to have committed an offence by rushing the victim into marriage against her will. This is against section 14(1) C of the Act which pegs the minimum age of marriage at 18 years.

The AG says there is sufficient evidence on the docket to press charges of rape and forced marriage against the proprietor of Great Lamptey Mills Institute.

He has, accordingly, been with the said offences. Bail is not to be granted on the charge of rape for which Mr. Lamptey Mills faces between 7 and 25 years in jail if convicted.

The AG makes reference to the Ghana Education Service Act which forbids teachers from indulging in immoral relations with their pupils or students.

It becomes even serious when Mr. Lamptey Mills – owner and head of the school is the man at the center of the alleged breaches.

AG recommends the school be shut down because the education service Act prescribes the sanction.

The sanction is applied when education ministry cannot guarantee the welfare and safety of pupils or students attending that school.

In the case of Lamptey Mills school, the AG is convinced students are exposed to danger because there is another media report of defilement by a music teacher of the school in March this year.