(Ecns.cn)--As one of the most morally controversial relationships, the teacher-student romance will soon meet a ban in Taiwan, said the United Daily News on Tuesday.
It's reported that the local education authority has already ordered schools at all levels including colleges, middle, and elementary schools to revise their employment contracts with teachers. For the first time in local history, teachers are explicitly forbidden by their contracts to romantically get involved with students. Otherwise, schools are authorized to suspend or fire them.
In the past year, as many as 36 teachers were fired because of either improper behavior or sexual harassment accusations. These cases, however, turned out to only be teacher-student romances, said Professor Wu Zhiguang from the department of law in Fu Jen Catholic University. After the two parties get involved, boyfriends as well as parents normally blame the teacher, which brings punishment for the latter, Wu explained.
Therefore, such a provision added to the revised contract is a reminder to teachers about the risk falling in love with their students, said Wu. He also added that in many of the reported cases, female students used cell phones to record sex with the teacher and once the relationships turned ugly, teachers faced blackmail from the former student-lover.
The local authority has confirmed the latest ban and quite a few universities have been working on the revision but are being careful about the words chosen in the contract.
However, such a move has met disagreements from many students who believe the government "is a bit too much like a nanny."
