Think the Alliance High School Teacher Sexual Abuse Case Was an Isolated Incident? Think Again.

This story reminded me of a time in high school when a rumor broke of a somewhat similar incident. The problem is, the details I have are so faded because the main thing I remember is just how hushed and twisted the whole story was. If you can believe it, the rumor was that the girl pursued the teacher and soon they were in a relationship. As if that is not outrageous enough, the rumor went ahead to claim that the girl raped the teacher in his office, and was caught red-handed by another teacher. Back then, we believed this ridiculous story and even judged her. How could she? She was a CU leader. How could this girl, who presented to be such a devout Christian, do this?

Looking at it from an adult perspective, it did not make sense because it did not happen like that! It is also quite sad because the only reason the story broke was that the girl was pregnant. As you can imagine, more details about the situation emerged, and the school could no longer contain the story. Even when it moved in the shadows, it still did, and even the male teacher in question, a certain chemistry teacher, was exposed. The story was finally confirmed to be true when the girl in question went home and never resumed school. Interestingly, around the same time, the said teacher was also nowhere to be found. Coincidence? I think not.

As is my nature, I proceeded to ask several other ladies if there were any similar cases in their schools, and 8 out of 10 confirmed that within the four years in their schools, there was at least one such incident. One of the more thorough stories I was given, this lady explained that a similar story broke out in their school when her classmate was confirmed to be pregnant with their chemistry teacher. The sad part was that this teacher groomed her by giving her privileges in school functions, events, and even food, which, while seemingly mediocre, are quite lucrative to a 14- to 16-year-old. This girl was then made to abort by the teacher to protect his reputation, of course, and just like in my school, the girl switched school, and the story was buried and only existed as a rumor that all students knew to be true but dared not speak openly about.

In a similar story but with a different script, another girl told me that her best friend from high school was in a full-blown relationship with their class teacher—and chemistry teacher. What makes this a different script from the rest is that in this case, it was not a speculation or rumor; they knew, and I’m not sure which is worse. Because in the case where these relationships are posed as rumors, there is a possibility that other teachers and the school administration had no idea until the stories broke. But in this case, all her classmates knew about it, and this being the case, I doubt that the administration was clueless.  So, did they just not care? Why was this allowed?

Another lady told me that one of her classmates started dating their chemistry teacher, got pregnant while they were in form four, and got married to the teacher immediately after completing high school. The sad thing about this story is that while she was telling me about it, she considered it a good love story. A teacher fell in love with a student and married her—it was fate, she said. But no, this was not fate. He preyed on a minor and groomed her into his wife. He robbed her of the opportunity to advance her education, to go out into the world and pursue a life for herself.

I also got a story from a lady who was the actual victim, the one who was dating a teacher, a chemistry teacher to be precise. According to her, it was the biggest mistake of her life. She hated living in fear of getting caught, but she also lived with the fear of not knowing how her life would be if she ended the relationship. How would she even end it? She was too young to know what to do. She says he lured her with minor compliments, private moments, and seemingly innocent conversations that her naïve self could not identify until it was too late. She judged herself and became distant from her friends lest she tell them about it and make him mad. And when the rumors started streaming in, she did not know how to react. She was torn between finally coming clean or protecting the man who made her believe he loved and would marry and pay for her university education. And whether she admitted this to herself or not, she loved the privileges that came with him. Ultimately, the rumor could not be contained, and the same dame control strategy was imposed. She was transferred to a different school—a day school.

It is very unfortunate that such stories are more common than the public wants to acknowledge or even know, because the perpetrators are protected by schools whose main focus is to protect their reputation. I mean, look at the story of Alliance, for example. This teacher did this and continued to work in the school for two decades-INSANE! What bothers me is if students from National Schools and Provincial Schools, which are meant to be of high value, can have such abominable issues, what about students from schools considered to be of lower levels? What is the need for students to work so hard to go to reputable schools if they cannot be protected from such heinous acts? And why is it predominantly chemistry teachers?

This is an issue that requires serious intervention.