Teachers have renewed their call for anonymity when accused of abusing their pupils.Nervous breakdowns, family break-ups and career blight can follow false allegations of physical or sexual assault, said the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT).The union said its members had faced a total of 154 allegations of abuse so far this year, compared with 160 in the whole of 2002, and called for the names of the accused to be kept secret until conviction or acquittal in court.Less than 3% of abuse allegations levelled at the profession had resulted in criminal convictions in the past 12 years, the NASUWT said….Only 96 had been prosecuted so far. Of the 1,782 cases, 1,574 had been closed and a further 208 were still under investigation.

IC Wales