Covid misconduct teacher escapes ban

A schoolteacher who was found to have gone to work while suffering from Covid symptoms at the height of the pandemic before flying to India has avoided being barred from the profession.

A professional conduct panel of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) found the conduct of Anita Sawhney, a former science teacher at Midpoint Centre, a pupil referral unit in Wolverhampton, "fell significantly short of the standards expected".

But it said it would not be proportionate to ban her from teaching.

The panel said it took into account Miss Sawhney's "valuable contribution" to teaching, as well as the remorse she showed for her actions.

On 22 October 2020, Miss Sawhney called the school, where she had worked since 2017, to say she had been suffering with a temperature for "the past two, three days" and could not come in.

The panel took this as an admission that she had attended work while displaying symptoms of Covid.

But on the same day she called the school, Miss Sawhney flew from Heathrow to Delhi with her partner, using tickets which had been purchased five days earlier.

She claimed her partner had bought the tickets without her knowledge, which the panel did not accept.

The panel found that Miss Sawhney had tested negative for Covid two days before her flight, allowing her to travel, but she did not inform the school of the result, leaving it under the impression she was self-isolating.

Her behaviour, said the panel, "created a potential risk to the school environment".

It quoted a witness, who said: "This could have led to wider issues such as the school having to close down."

The panel added Miss Sawhney had behaved "deliberately in contravention of the guidance and school policy, which in turn amounted to a clear failure to act within the higher standards expected of a teacher".

It concluded she had breached the NHS and school guidance in order to facilitate a trip to India. Her conduct, it said, amounted to both unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.

But the panel took into account positive character references, which described her as "kind and trustworthy" and "always putting the welfare of the students and colleagues first".

It also acknowledged her remorse, her "lengthy and unblemished career", and her "significant" contribution to the education sector.

It recommended that banning Miss Sawhney from teaching would not be a proportionate response and that the publication of its findings was sufficient.

The recommendation was accepted by the decision maker Sarah Buxcey on behalf of the education secretary.

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