Benjamin Quansah’s teaching registration suspended for a year

A former Baden Powell College teacher who lied about being charged with raping and abducting a teen girl has had his teaching registration suspended.

Benjamin Quansah has had his teaching registration suspended for a year.

A Victorian teacher and Rotary member who lied about being charged with raping and abducting a teenage girl has had his teaching registration suspended for a year.

The man, Benjamin Quansah, worked in Victorian schools for five years, including Baden Powell College in Tarneit. He did his in-service training at Gilmore College for Girls, which is now part of Footscray High School. Mr Quansah trained as a pastor and ran homework clubs for disadvantaged children.

A Victorian Institute of Teaching panel has ruled Mr Quansah is disqualified from applying for registration for one year, until March 15, 2023.

Mr Quansah, a Ghanaian national, was first registered as a teacher in 2012, but had been acquitted of rape, indecent assault and kidnapping charges by the Mildura County Court three years earlier.

A Victorian Institute of Teaching panel has just ruled Mr Quansah is disqualified from applying for registration for one year.

He failed to disclose this on his registration forms, answering “no” to questions of whether he had ever been charged with a criminal offence.

Mr Quansah was feted by Rotary Passport Melbourne in October 2021 as a “pastor, educator, community leader, IT expert, humanitarian and RPM member”.

“Ben lives a life of service to the full via his community work in Australia and beyond in Ghana,” according to an online This is Your Life commendation from the charity.

The VIT recently completed a review of the criminal history of teachers, which meant authorities responsible for working with children checks informed the regulator about Mr Quansah’s charges.

He must convince the VIT he is of sound character, reputation and conduct and that he does not have any physical or mental impairments that would stop him from being a teacher if he attempts to re-register after next May.