By Hou Akot Hou
Education officials in Northern Bahr El Gazal State have given orders to dismiss teachers and students who are involved in love affairs.
This follows the dismissal of teachers accused of having ganged up to rape a schoolgirl at Cornerstone Academy, one of the private schools in Aweil town.
The five schoolteachers are being held in custody by the state police awaiting trial.
Santino Bol Akot Nguel told journalists on Tuesday from Aweil town that they have reached a decision to dismiss the accused five teachers to serve as a stringent warning to others.
“Any teacher who is found to have been courting a schoolgirl is liable to get home,” he warned. “We don’t condone such unethical practices that don’t comply with the teachers’ code of conduct.”
Mr. Bol said that the order applies to teachers in private, community, church-based, and public schools, which are all under the Ministry of General Education.
Now the dismissal of a teacher for breaching the code of conduct is being considered.
One resident who chose anonymity said that dismissal has no heavy repercussions; a teacher can escape to another school away from the state and get into the teaching profession unless they are reprimanded for years.
He appealed to the authorities to hand out long-term jail sentences to teachers who fall victims of the law, especially, those who impregnate schoolgirls.