Deputy Speaker, the ID remains concerned that despite assurances to comply with the provisions of the Sexual Offences Act, the Ministry of Education has still not applied for clearance certificates for the more than 380 000 teachers from the register of sex offenders.
In response to a recent question that I submitted to the hon Minister, she confirmed that her department has not applied for clearance certificates from the Registrar of Sex Offenders because of a delay by the registrar in capturing the information. This delay has now gone on for far too long. Once again, good policies are failing because of the slow pace of implementation.
What is of more serious concern is that our children remain exposed to and are at risk from a minority of sex pest teachers in schools because the department has failed to screen and root out serial sex offenders who are employed as teachers.
The ID calls on the Ministries of Education and Justice to urgently address the completion of the sexual offences register so that we may prevent sex predators from slipping through the cracks and masquerading as teachers in our schools. I thank you.