NO CRIMINAL charges or disciplinary action will be taken against the female teacher of a Larnaca high school accused of sexually exploiting two of her male pupils, said Education Minister Andreas Demetriou yesterday.
The minister said he had received the Attorney-general’s opinion on the matter which ruled out the possibility of disciplinary charges or a criminal investigation into the actions of the teacher.
He further charged sections of the media with conducting an attack against public education while setting up a “public tribunal” for the teacher in question before hearing the results of the ministry’s own investigations.
Last month, one daily newspaper reported that a teacher had allegedly had, at least on one occasion, sexual intercourse with two students in her car. The teacher allegedly began ‘harassing’ the two boys on their mobiles and on online social networking sites afterwards.
The ministry was informed in March by the Commissioner for Children’s Rights Leda Koursoumba who said she had received an anonymous complaint. The ministry launched its own investigation into the allegations and gave its findings to the AG who ruled that no action should be taken against the woman.
Demetriou yesterday rebuked those who couldn’t wait for the findings to come out before setting up a “public tribunal”.
“Unfortunately, while the education ministry was conducting an investigation and before the AG’s decision, some did not wait for the results of this investigation but rushed to set up a public tribunal, proceeding to effectively condemn and shame people,” he said.
While the teacher in question was targeted by the media, Demetriou said it was state education which was the real target, receiving “disproportionate criticism over any reason, real or manufactured”.
He added: “And let us not fool ourselves, not all criticism of public schools is well-intentioned. The pie of education is large, around which there are interests and aspirations that get satisfied through the slander of public schools. To clarify, it doesn’t always happen, but it’s not rare either.”
The minister welcomed criticism of the education system, but said he could not accept the “grossly unfair” and “targeted war against state education by some in the media”.
Asked to comment further on the case, Demetriou said that following the AG’s opinion, the matter was now closed.
