Twenty-one out of 374 government-issued tablets intended for Form One students at Esiama Senior High School in the Ellembelle District of Ghana’s Western Region have gone missing, despite multiple efforts by school management to locate them.
🔍 Background and Delivery Process
The tablets, labelled “SM1 Tablet,” were delivered to the school from the Regional Resource Centre in Sekondi on January 15, 2025. The school’s driver, Peter Acquah, and storekeeper, Felix Dom, were assigned to collect the devices using the school bus. However, only the driver returned with the tablets that night, as the storekeeper had another assignment. The tablets were left in the bus under the watch of the security officer on duty, Abdul-Hamid Said.
Other schools in the district, including UBASH, Nkroful Agricultural SHS, and Bonsu Kaku SHS, also received their consignments during the same delivery run.
The following day, the storekeeper was still unavailable, so the counting and offloading of the tablets were conducted by the school driver, the Senior Housemaster, the Assistant Head (Academics), the School Clerk, and the Assistant Headmistress (Domestic), using the waybill and invoice as reference. The tablets were then stored in a secure storeroom locked with three padlocks. The keys were initially held by the Senior Housemaster and later handed over to the storekeeper.
On August 6, 2025, during the distribution of the tablets to students, it was discovered that 21 tablets, four boxes and one additional unit were missing. Only 335 tablets were successfully distributed.
This is not the first time the school has faced theft-related issues. Reports suggest that an HP laptop and several boys’ school uniforms had previously gone missing under suspicious circumstances. School sources believe the culprit(s) may be within the school community.
The Headmistress, Madam Francisca Biney, confirmed that the matter has been officially reported to both the police and the Ghana Education Service (GES) for investigation.
The storekeeper, Felix Dom, stated that he was not present when the driver was assigned to collect the tablets. He also clarified that the tablets were initially stored in a room near the Headmistress’s office and that his only interaction with them was when he was asked to take photos of the storage setup for submission to GES.
