We drop our children off at school, believing they are safe, hopeful that they will learn something useful but, unfortunately, predators are all around us.
There have been more than 150 cases of teachers having sexual relationships with pupils in South Africa in the last year. How safe is your child?
It is against the law for any person over the age of 18 to have sex with anyone under the age of 16.
Most cases of sexual misconduct at schools involve male teachers; however, there are cases where female teachers are also engaging in these relationships.
I find it concerning how society finds it acceptable when a matric boy falls in love with a young female teacher – ‘boys will be boys’. No, teachers are supposed to be held to higher standards.
A teacher and a learner are not and will not ever be equal, and these relationships should never be tolerated.
A teacher is in a position of power, and children do not know how to navigate such a relationship.
When a student enters a schoolyard, the teacher takes on the role of a parent, a protector, and an educator, not a friend.
I wonder if these predators choose this profession because it gives them access to vulnerable children, or do they find out along the way?
Being a teacher gives you easy access, children are easily manipulated into keeping secrets, and what teenage girl doesn’t want attention from her young attractive teacher or coach?
We trust our children’s teachers to keep them safe. We send them on sports tours or school camps believing they will return unharmed; will they though?
Teachers have a strict code of conduct they need to follow and there are procedures in place for inappropriate behaviour, but are they always followed?
We can hope, but at the end of the day, bad publicity is not good business for any school.
Do you remember the Parktown Boys story?
Collan Rex, the water polo coach, was found guilty of abusing 23 boys and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
One would think this would serve as a deterrent to these predators but it’s been seven years and the number of cases keeps rising.
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