The Rector of Takoradi Polytechnic, Prof Daniel A. Nyarko, sent a dismissal letter to Sheeba Quartey on April 18, alleging that she had among others admitted being a lesbian when she appeared before the school’s disciplinary committee.
In her suit, Ms Quartey is demanding to be reinstated, the payment of all her benefits since her dismissal and any other reliefs granted by the court.
According to the plaintiff, she was never allowed to confront any of the students who accused her of coercing them to engage in lesbianism, although the school authorities claimed their decision was based on information from the students.
Until her dismissal, she was a Senior Instructor at the Department of Fashion Design and Technology at the Polytechnic.
She said before she was invited to appear before the disciplinary committee, the committee said it had interviewed some students and conducted its own investigations and it was clear that she was having amorous relationships with some students. The committee also relied on an illicitly recorded conversation by a particular student.
The said voice recording was never played to her, and she was not given the opportunity to confront a main witness in the matter, Barakat Nuhu, Ms Quartey said.
Sheeba Quartey denied the accusations indicating that the dismissal letter did not state any specific charge against her.
The beleaguered lecturer was alleged to have threatened to fail the students in their examinations, if they refused to acquiesce to her lascivious demands.
One of the students who the lecturer had allegedly been making sexual advances at reported the issue to her parents living abroad.
A plan was hatched, and a conversation in which the lecturer made advances to the lady was recorded and presented to the school authorities as evidence.
The school’s disciplinary committee, convinced by the gathered evidence, decided to sack Sheeba Quartey.
The news of her dismissal became topical, with some media houses blowing the details out of proportion, while others were accused of misrepresenting the facts.
The authorities of Takoradi Polytechnic demanded an apology from one such media house- the Daily Graphic – for reporting some falsehood.
According to the school authorities, the Daily Graphic, without any proof, concluded that many students had been converted into lesbians.
Management of the Polytechnic said the Daily Graphic of Thursday May 26, 2011, contained a number of factual inaccuracies intended to impugn the hard-won reputation of the Polytechnic.
A release stated that the Daily Graphic’s story unnecessarily made hasty conclusions that cast aspersion on students of the Polytechnic, adding, “Management of the Polytechnic strongly refutes Daily Graphic’s slant and the false motives it is imputing on the over 8, 000 student population of the Polytechnic.
“It must be pointed out that offering sexual favor is not the basis for passing examinations at Takoradi Polytechnic. The Polytechnic has in place stringent measures including external moderations in the conduct of its examinations.
“Actually, the students that brought complaints against Miss Quartey did not at any point claim that she has threatened to fail them in their papers. This was never an issue of consideration by the Disciplinary Committee. What the students were protesting is her obsession for their attention and eagerness to embarrass them in class when she is ignored. Management felt these advances were inconsistent with her role as a Senior Instructor.
“Thus, there was nothing about marks for which Daily Graphic should be making these unfair allegations,” it said.
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