【明報專訊】A male teacher suspected of indecently assaulting a female student was fired. As the girl did not press charges against him, the police dropped the case. The case would have remained unknown if he had not claimed unpaid salaries from the school last week. It then came to light that he had begun teaching at another school. He has now resigned. However, the case has raised criticism from a professional teachers' body, which says the existing system is not such as to keep students safe by barring sex offence suspects from teaching posts. To deal with the issue, the government should allow teachers to form a statutory professional body as doctors and lawyers have done. Schools should be required to report cases of teacher misconduct to the body. The body should handle complaints and, to protect students' interests, it should have a panel comprising independents that would hear cases of teacher misconduct and decide on punishments.