The Government has launched a review of child protection legislation to offer new help to teachers falsely accused of abuse by their pupils. David Blunkett, the Secretary of State for Education, said he was considering offering anonymity to those accused of physical or sexual abuse to stop careers being ruined by the feeling that there may be “no smoke without fire”.
Hundreds of teachers face allegations of assault and abuse each year, but most are cleared. Mr Blunkett revealed details of the review after he was questioned by a teacher who broke down as she told how her husband had been the victim of a false claim by a child.
Jayne Jones, a teacher from WREXHAM, wept as she told the annual conference of the National Association of Schoolmasters-Union of Women Teachers:
“Innocent until proven guilty for teachers: that does not apply.”My family suffered nine months of sheer hell when my husband was the victim of a malicious and false allegations. What is the Government going to do to protect the teachers and their family from the nightmare we went through?”
Published in the Independent