Ministry reinstates teacher back to post at same school despite ongoing sexual abuse case against him

Burcu Özkaya Günaydın / DUVAR

A teacher who is currently on trial on charges of sexually abusing one of his students, has been reinstated back to his post at the same school.

The physical education teacher A.Ö. was suspended from duty after facing a legal case on charges of sexually abusing his 13-year-old student. The incident came to light in 2018 in Turkey's southern district of Reyhanlı in the Hatay province.

Although the legal case has not been yet finalized and the investigation is still continuing, the Education Ministry reinstated the teacher back to his post at the same school.

The child's lawyer Yusuf Uysal commented on the issue to Gazete Duvar, saying messages that the teacher had sent the child were documented in the case file.

“The suspect has initially abused the victim emotionally. He told the child, 'You are laughing beautifully, you are very sweet. Afterwards, the verbal abuses turned into physical abuse,” Uysal said.

The lawyer said that other teachers had also testified in the case as they reported the suspect of asking them for permission to talk to the child while they were conducting their own lessons. “Other teachers were also disturbed about this,” Uysal said.

Education Ministry inspectors initially ruled for the teacher to be dismissed from the civil service altogether, but the ministry later decided that the teacher's rank should be lowered, handing down the least possible punishment possible.

Although two years have passed since the incident, only one hearing took place with regards to the case.

“Although sexual abuse is among the reasons of imprisonment, the suspect currently stands trial without arrest. We demand that the suspect be suspended from duty and arrested immediately in the face of the possibility that he can conduct the same action to other students,” the lawyer said.