S.China to blacklist teachers for sexual misconduct
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Students have a computer class at Dulongjiang Center School in
Dulongjiang Township of Gongshan Dulong and Nu Autonomous County,
southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 23, 2019.
Education authorities in South China's Guangdong Province plan to punish teachers for sexual misconduct with students by dismissing them and blacklisting them in the education system. Experts noted that the measures need to be further detailed to consider the type of sexual harassment so as not to miss any predator teachers.
The
Department of Education of Guangdong Province issued a draft document on
Monday saying that teachers who have improper relationships with
students or who conduct any form of abuse or sexual harassment will be
punished by being dismissed, having their teacher qualifications revoked
and their name recorded in the education system, which will ban them
from further engaging in teaching, scientific research and management in
the education field.
The measures will form a combined force
along with the criminal law and the law on public security
administration to prohibit sexual misconduct at schools, which has long
been a major concern for society and law makers, experts noted.
China's
Ministry of Education (MOE) specified a code of conduct for teachers in
a document issued in November 2018, including the punishment for sexual
misconduct. Guangdong's new regulation requires schools to strictly
impose the measures at the administration level in accordance with the
MOE's guidelines, Zhu Wei, professor at the China University of
Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
However,
Zhu noted that the measures need to further detail the type of the
sexual harassment just in case predators might get off due to loopholes
in the regulations.
"It should be made clear that sexual
harassment is not limited to behavioral misconduct; verbal harassment
should also be counted, such as telling dirty and suggestive jokes and
saying overly intimate words to students," said Zhu.
He added
that the regulation should specify circumstances where sexual harassment
might happen, such as a teacher and a student staying alone in a
confined space with the door locked, whether in a classroom, the
teacher's office or outside the school.
Netizens expressed
support for Guangdong's new regulations on social media, suggesting that
other places in the country should also adopt the same measures.
Some
even think the punishment is too light, saying that predator teachers
should not only be blacklisted from the education field, but from other
industries as well.
Incidents of sexual harassment by teachers
have been frequently reported in recent years. A high school student in
Baoding, North China's Hebei Province revealed to the media on May 16
that she was sexually harassed by a male teacher for years but the
teacher got off without any punishment.
A survey conducted by
the Guangzhou Gender Education Center in 2017 showed that 69.3 percent
of the surveyed college students and graduates had experienced sexual
harassment to some degree.
School sexual harassment has also been a hot topic for Chinese lawmakers.
In
China's first Civil Code, which was adopted at the third session of the
13th National People's Congress on Thursday, a new regulation was
included that required schools to set up a reasonable mechanism to
prevent teachers from sexually harassing students.
Though the
regulation was set mainly to protect students, Zhu also cautioned about
the circumstances in which students maliciously report or falsely accuse
teachers of sexual misconduct. "Any false report or libel by students
should also be punished," he said.
Source: GLOBAL TIMES, by Wan Lin
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