Punish teachers who prey on pupils

10 February 2021 - 11:08

By Reader Letter

From the inception of formal education, teachers have been at the forefront of touching and changing the lives of their learners.

In fact, all professions in the world have their genesis rooted in the field of teaching.

This makes teachers to be our community heroes, as they expose the young ones to knowledge and skills that they eventually use to better their lives. In the same breath, I would like to voice out my anger, disappointment and disgust over the issue of teachers dating schoolchildren.

There have been reports for many years, of teachers, particularly the male ones, having sexual relationships with their learners. This is one of the highest degrees of advantage-taking and moral decay our society is faced with.

It is so unfortunate that some teachers use the powers and privileges of their profession to prey on their own learners.

Despite this conduct being despised and punishable by the South African Council for Educators, I believe that as parents themselves, these rotten teachers should use their logic to see the wrongness of their actions.

The lame justification these teachers normally give is that the learners were equally interested, forgetting that these are young people who need to be shown the way. Some parents are also part of the problem, maintaining their silence because their children are benefitting financially.

Young girls are lured with objects, gifts and money they don’t have. It is unfortunate that all this unfolds before the eyes of community members, and it is normally the learner who is blamed instead of the teacher.

When schoolgirls fall pregnant, they are chastised and rebuked for sleeping with older men, instead of dealing with the perpetrator, who is the root cause of the crisis.

Let us become responsible citizens and report all teachers who take advantage of their pupils. Restoring morals in society begins with you.

Malphia Honwane, Gottenburg, eManyeleti