RANDY TEACHERS WARNED
MALE teachers who will be found having sexual affairs with their pupils may be dismissed from employment or prosecuted and sent to jail, Isoka District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) Ginno Sichilima has warned.
Speaking at the end of a Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ)AGAPE project Consultative meeting in Isoka, Mr Sichilima said teachers were parents to girls and should not turn them into brides. He said Government and other stakeholders were making efforts to ensure that a girl child was educated and not to be turned into a bride that curtail their bright future once they get pregnant or married at a tender age. Mr Sichilima warned male teachers against having sexual relations with school girls, adding that such perpetrators would be dealt with accordingly. ‘‘Teachers who mess up with a learner by having sexual relationships with girl children must undergo disciplinary action which might result in dismissal or even serving a jail sentence,’’ Mr Sichilima said.
He said the Ministry of General Education did not expect any teacher to have sexual relations with learners as the trend had the potential to drastically affect their academic performance. Teachers had the mandate to nurture pupils holistically, including morally, therefore, they should regard and treat them as their own children and help them realise their full potential so that they could grow into good citizens, he said. Mr Sichilima implored school managers to keenly monitor teachers who perpetrated such acts and ensure that culprits were brought to book. ‘‘These girls are entrusted to teachers’ care by their parents with the understanding that they will provide them academic and moral guidance. It is unethical, not to mention criminal, for this duty of care to be compromised by amorous relationships,” Mr Sichilima said, adding that “we cannot have the innocence of our young ones so heartlessly and casually destroyed, whoever will be caught in such an act will be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the law.”