By L.K. Hewlett
St. Kitts Reporter
The act of law barring convicted sex offenders from holding teaching positions in the federation will come into being late September, a date some say is too late for their liking.
Educators expressed alarm after it was said in a post-Cabinet briefing on Monday that Cabinet approved for the Education Act 2005 to be amended to bar convicted sex offenders from holding teaching positions.
A teacher of some twenty years told The Observer she ‘could not believe’ that government would create an education act and not include such a clause.
“The education act was done up in 2005, not 1805. I could not believe that in this day and age a government would make an act they said was taking into account the present realities in our society but negated to include that the very persons who prey on children not be allowed to have unfettered access to them.
“I also find it strange that such an act has to be passed separately in Cabinet, when as far as I know, persons with any form of criminal record are prohibited from holding a civil servant job. It is good that they are finally coming around and realizing that along with giving children access to an education, they also to have to make it safe for those same children to go about doing so,” the teacher said.
Cabinet has given its approval to have the following amendments made to the existing act: Convicted sex offenders are to be debarred from ever holding teaching positions; the roles and functions of guidance counsellors are to be specifically defined; and penalties are to be introduced for certain offences that have been defined in the act where none were specified.
Another point of concerned expressed by various stakeholders in Education, was the prevalence of male predators who already held teaching positions, but had never been charged with a sexual offence.
The long time educator gave her view on this issue as well, saying that teachers having affairs with students, was not a new thing.
“I can recall even in my days in school there were always some male teachers that everyone knew used to ‘trouble’ students. As time progressed you started hearing about female teachers being involved with the young men that they taught.
“I even know of a case recently where a female teacher had a child for one of her students with whom she had a very public relationship. In some of those cases it’s hard to prove wrongdoing, and no one wants to be seen as someone who ‘calls the police on a teacher’. This behaviour has become almost a norm and something that is accepted in today’s society and that is an awful shame,” she said.
The Observer spoke with another veteran teacher at a local high school who echoed the first teacher’s response.
“I am quite happy that this is being enacted as law, as a matter of fact I think it has taken too long. I am shocked that it is only now in 2007 becoming a part of our education act. To put convicted sex offenders in a school means you are actually preparing very fertile grounds for them to run amok.
“We have to protect and look out for our children and make sure that they can operate safely in an area where they spend the majority of their time. You cannot bring people onto the premises who are supposed to be looking out for them but who are actually preying on them within the sanctity of the school environment,” she said.
She added that in the case of suspected offenders who were already in the system, victims and their parents should come forward once there is proof of the abuse and pursue the matter to the fullest extent of the law.
