By Tay Shi'an

IT'S galling to hear the opinions of the former-teacher who still feels it was okay to have a relationship with his underage student.

First of all, there are some professions that are held in higher moral standing than others.

These professionals are placed in positions of trust and authority.

They are expected, whether by ethics or by law, not to have relationships with those who come to them in their course of work, and not to take advantage of the other party's position of vulnerability.

Doctors and their patients, immigration officers and foreign workers or overstayers, teachers and their students - the list goes on.

The teacher-student relationship holds a double stigma because of the age issue.

It involves a child, a young person whose mind the teacher is supposed to mould.

So what happens when an adult teacher abuses his or her position and ignores all ethical judgment, and has a relationship with a young student?

In the case of the female teacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with her 15-year-old student, the boy turned violent.

When she tried to break off, he threatened to kill her and her family members.

In the other two cases we featured, one girl had to see a therapist to cope, while the other had suicidal tendencies.

Their reactions show that they are obviously too young and emotionally ill-equipped to deal with adult romantic relationships.

The teachers should have known better - and it is frightening to think that these are the people who had been entrusted with our children's minds.

But ex-teacher Aaron (not his real name) doesn't seem to care. He only cares about himself.

He still blames the girl's parents, his colleagues and principal for firing him. In short, he blames everyone but himself.

If not to protect the young girl from being identified and further hurt, I would have no qualms telling people exactly who he is.

I am glad he was sacked, so he no longer has the access and chance to do irreparable damage to another child.

This article was first published in The New Paper.