A former Vernon, British Columbia, teacher who was convicted of long-standing sexual offences last year will never be permitted to work in a school again.

Anoop Singh Klair, 40, was given a 3.5-year jail term in September 2021 for three counts of sexually harassing a child under 14 and one count of sexual assault with a deadly weapon.

Before he became a teacher, the offences were perpetrated between 1999 and 2003 on four kids between the ages of nine and thirteen.

Klair consented to the revocation of his teaching certificate and agreed to never seek employment in a school setting, whether it be in an independent school or the Ministry of Education, in a Consent Resolution Agreement from the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation signed this July.

The judge further stated that Klair’s behaviour toward the kids he assaulted was aggressive and “degrading” enough to warrant the punishment. This is of course contrary to the type of conditional sentence Nicholas Jacob, the defence counsel, had suggested for Klair.

The decision helps show the Province’s commitment to protecting the safety of students in British Columbia.