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Singapore. A former secondary school teacher was jailed eight years on Tuesday for having sex with one of his students, who was 14 years old at the time.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur said the man, who is married and a father, knew that it was an inappropriate and unlawful relationship.

"He clearly took advantage of the girl's immaturity and vulnerability to satisfy his own prurient interests and for his own sexual satisfaction," she said, adding that he was also having a sexual relationship with a former student at the same time.

She added that he had "destroyed the fundamental feeling of safety and protection that teachers entrusted with the care and education of students must provide."

Now aged 41 and unemployed, he was allowed to start serving his sentence on Jan 25 so he could spend Chinese New Year with his family.

His bail was increased from 5,000 to 30,000 Singapore dollars and the district court ordered him to surrender his passport to the police. He cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim.

The judge pointed out that he had committed several offenses in the school, and had a latch installed on the door of a co-curricular activities room to ensure his misdeeds would not be uncovered.

Other aggravating factors were the 23-year age difference between the teacher and student, how he did not use a condom most of the time, and the protracted length of the affair, which started in late 2007 and continued for 1-1/2 years.

The judge noted that in mid-2008, the school received a complaint about his inappropriate behavior with the girl during a school trip to the United States.

He denied it and claimed he was like a father to her. He got a warning letter for "impropriety", but continued to have intercourse with her. This went on even after he was transferred to another school.

When he pleaded guilty last month, the court heard that he first wooed her with gifts on a school trip to South Korea. He told her she was attractive, that he wanted her to be his girlfriend, and lied that his wife was divorcing him.

After they returned to Singapore, he had sex with her regularly in the co-curricular activities room and in his car.

His wife came across intimate text messages he had sent to the student and former student when she tried to use his mobile phone to take pictures of their second daughter, born in early 2010. She confronted him but he claimed that he was merely giving both girls 'private tuition' and promised to stop doing that.

He did not do so and the wife went to the younger girl's home in April 2010 and told her mother. The teen confessed to the relationship and her father lodged a police report.

None of his family members was in court on Tuesday.

This case has brought teacher-student interaction into the spotlight. At a parliamentary sitting early this month, Lim Biow Chuan, MP for Mountbatten, asked how the Ministry of Education intended to ensure that such relationships were kept strictly professional.

Minister of State for Education Lawrence Wong said proper systems and processes were in place to guide teachers.

He added that they were sufficiently briefed on the expected standard of conduct and the need to maintain proper relations with students.

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.