A Tainan teacher who was in March accused of sexually assaulting a student has had 10 more accusations brought against him following an independent investigation by the Humanistic Education Foundation.
The teacher, surnamed Chang (張), was previously recognized with an “outstanding teacher” award, the foundation told a news conference yesterday.
Its investigations indicate that Chang might have been abusing students for 25 years, it said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The foundation said it hopes the authorities will do more to investigate allegations of sexual assault on children and that lawmakers would amend the laws to more strictly punish those who cover up such crimes.
The foundation’s southern Taiwan office director Chang Ping (張萍) said that she launched the investigation after learning about the allegations against Chang, fearing that there could be more victims.
The accused was trusted by parents, as he often helped his students by buying them food, taking them to and from school, and taking pictures for parents during school activities, Chang Ping said.
When the allegations first arose, the parents refused to believe them, she added.
The allegations in her investigation go back to the accused’s first term as teacher at the school where he previously worked, she said, adding that the school principal was allegedly aware of the incidents, but reportedly did not take action for fear of losing their pension.
“If the school had done something back then it could have prevented all subsequent incidents,” the mother of a victim from the teacher’s first term told the news conference.
About half of the accusers said the teacher had assaulted them in the school’s multimedia classroom under the pretense of teaching them how to defend against attackers, Chang Ping said, adding that some others said that he took them to his home, where he forcefully kissed them.
One accuser said the teacher told her to stay after class for “not paying attention during class” and when she told her parents that she had been assaulted they did not believe her, Chang Ping said.
The accuser came forth after seeing news reports about the teacher in March, she said.
Foundation executive director Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭) said the allegations spanned the teacher’s terms at two schools, the first of which he worked at for seven years and the second for 18 years.
Hopefully, the Tainan City Government will assemble a task force to investigate the accusations, given their scope, and would provide accusers with free legal consultation, Feng said.
The city should also revoke the credentials of the principals at the two schools and prohibit them from working as principals again, the Control Yuan should investigate officials connected with the schools, lawmakers should amend the laws to remove the statute of limitations on sexual assault of minors and make them retroactively applicable, people found covering up sexual abuse of children should be punished, and teachers found guilty of involvement in sexual abuse of children should be prohibited from teaching for life, she said.
The Tainan Bureau of Education said it on May 28 revoked the accused’s teaching credentials for life and that his name was added to a national no-hire database for education-related jobs.
The bureau said it is also investigating whether others at the two schools were involved in the alleged assaults, adding that it would take action against anyone found guilty of involvement regardless of how long ago the alleged incidents occurred.
The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office said that it has taken written statements of the accusers.
Additional reporting by Hung Jui-chin
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