EDUCATORS who end up in compromising situations with students and are found guilty by the courts should be outed and not allowed to slink back into the school system, director of the Safety and Security in Schools Unit Richard Troupe is insisting.

According to Troupe, such individuals, when allegations are made, should also not be allowed to just resign and disappear, but investigations must take place.

“I think we have been very clear in our stance as a ministry that every matter must be reported to CISOCA [Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse] and the law must take its course,” Troupe told the Jamaica Observer in a recent interview.

“We are also suggesting that if persons are found culpable that it is not kept under the radar, that after they have served their time they can shift and go to another school. We are also tracking that because we were seeing, for example, a news report that said a teacher from St Catherine [who was involved in a compromising situation with a student], the same teacher ended up in a school in St Andrew. Sometimes there is a tendency when these things come up to resign; that cannot be our position. The investigations must be done,” Troupe stated.

He, in the meantime, has appealed to the parents and guardians of students who are victims to not get cold feet and avoid the courts.

“We say to parents that, as much as it is a painful situation, we do not want cases to be dropped. We do not want to believe that persons can be paid off to let a case go, but the case must be followed through to the end. It’s a sensitive matter; every child who is a victim in such a situation is provided with that support. We have been very discreet,” Troupe added.

Earlier this month a 24-year-old teacher was charged by the St Ann Criminal Investigations Branch (CIB) with one count of buggery, indecent assault, and grievous sexual assault. Reports are that the teacher got involved in a relationship with a 15-year-old male student at a school in the parish and indulged in sex acts at a hotel, allegedly with another minor.

Also this month, a Clarendon teacher was taken into police custody after a 14-year-old girl who had been reported missing was found at his home in the parish. The educator had reportedly been employed at a primary school before being employed at a high school.

Under Jamaican law, a person under the age of 16 cannot legally engage in sexual intercourse or any related sexual activity.