Nairobi — Damning revelations contained in a report published in Monday's issue of the Daily Nation detailing sexual abuse of schoolgirls by their own teachers are shocking.

It is sad that the teachers who are entrusted with taking care of the young girls end up preying on them when they should be the ones educating them on the dangers of early sexual intercourse.

Worse are the revelations that some of the procedures used to discipline the teachers who commit such crimes are themselves faulty and more often than not, culprits walk away scot-free.

Parents, headteachers, district education officials have all been identified as some of the people who protect culprits by failing to report the cases to the Teachers Service Commission.

In some cases, villagers have established kangaroo courts that determine the cases casually, sometimes meting out ineffectual punishments against the affected teachers. Some, in fact, decide to marry off the girls.

The issue of teachers having sex with schoolgirls has been with us for a long time. Colleges and even the existing code of ethics caution against the dangers of engaging in the vice, which should ideally carry a summary dismissal penalty. The courts should then take over and hand out stiff sentences as a deterrent measure.

We have repeatedly published reports where young girls are made pregnant by their own teachers. What this means is that the education of the girls often comes to an abrupt end. Many of them who never heard of protective sex, end up with Aids.

Yet we know the report's findings are only a tip of the iceberg. More research needs to be done to unearth data that is held in the remote parts of the country where many cases are covered up. It is time the commission came up with measures that can address this endemic problem once and for all.