Sack and prosecute randy teachers

Last year, a number of girls sat their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations from maternity wards. This sparked a countrywide outcry from parents and guardians who demanded action from the Government.

Deputy President William Ruto weighed in on the matter by asking stakeholders in the education sector to expose those behind pregnancy cases among schoolgirls.

Finally, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), in an unprecedented move aimed at taming randy male teachers, has made good its threat to name and shame those suspected of having affairs with their students. This is commendable given that such cases were swept under the carpet in the past.

The habit has been that those charged with the responsibility of reporting such cases turned into perpetrators of the vice by shielding the culprits. This habit is more rampant in schools where the principal and deputy are both male.

And if the parents of the girl happen to be poor, then the deal is as good as sealed. Under this arrangement, all an accused teacher needed to do was accept paternal responsibility, pay dowry and marry the girl; sometime as a second or even a third wife.

Without a future in academics, these school dropouts’ only title is that of a house wife, living at the mercy of a sex-hungry teacher who may eject her from her matrimonial home at will. These marriages are only meant to salvage the careers of errant teachers and cover up acts of immorality. Ultimately, the life of the student is ruined.

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Excuses made by teachers to justify their actions are shallow and flimsy. They argue some of the teacher-student affairs are consensual. They further claim it is in fact students who make advances on male teachers.

Such excuses should never be entertained. It’s ironical that people charged with the responsibility of teaching our children can display ignorance in very basic matters.

A teacher occupies a powerful position in the society. The student on the other hand is too immature to make a rational decision for herself. Therefore, the question of a consensual relationship between a teacher and a student does not arise.

The power difference makes them unequal. A teacher-student affair exploits the physical, emotional and intellectual vulnerability of the student.

Such a relationship is an abomination because the teacher is believed to be guiding the child on the way to a moral and virtuous life. He must therefore not send wrong signals by converting this delicate relationship into a romantic one.

Students are not fully developed emotionally, so it is highly irresponsible to exploit their fragile and innocent feelings with a love affair. Teacher-student romances are unacceptable because they distract from, and pose as abstractions to, the attainment of educational goals.

Additionally, romantic dalliances between a teacher and a student can have adverse effects on a classroom setting.

Other students suspect favouritism, which could cause them to end up developing a negative attitude towards excelling fairly in academics.

While I commend TSC’s action, the punishment should go beyond naming and striking these teachers off the register. What TSC has done should be viewed as a disciplinary measure by an employer disappointed by the immoral behaviour of his employee, not the ultimate price that the affected teachers will pay.

The country will be waiting to see what action the police and the Director of Public Prosecutions will take against these teachers.

Kenyans want to see them taken to court and made to answer to charges of defilement among other offences.