Teachers strike over 'indecent assault' case
Teachers walked out on strike at a secondary school yesterday after a member of staff was accused and then cleared of indecent assault against a pupil. The second biggest teachers’ union mounted a picket outside the gate accusing the school governors and the local authority of failing to take measures to protect its members against the risk of future allegations.Chris Keates, the acting general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), said it was “a textbook illustration of the vulnerability of teachers nationwide”.She said: “A male teacher at the school was accused of sexual assault, suspended for over two years, investigated, exonerated by the court and is now too ill to attend work due to the stress and trauma he has suffered. Yet the pupil remains in school and has had no sanctions taken against her….”
