A teacher has been banned from the profession after confessing to an “Edward Cullen type of love” in an Instagram message to a pupil.
The message sent by Rafiqul Islam, 34, to the student – known only as Pupil A – while working as a teacher at Friern Barnet School, north London, in 2022, is in reference to the vampire love interest in the Twilight film and book series.
A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) tribunal found he sent the message, called Pupil A cute and said that he loved her on at least one occasion.
He denied his actions were sexually motivated, but the panel found they were, and that he was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct.
In extracts of his Instagram message, Mr Islam said: “At the beginning of July last year I developed a crush on you. By the end of the school year I have fallen in love with you. The world became meaningless to me without you, and I couldn’t stop thinking about you.
“It wasn’t the normal type of love, but the Edward Cullen type of love.
“School holidays were particularly painful as sometimes I would spend most of my day in bed just thinking about you. Despite how much I love my career, I would sacrifice it all if you want to be together.
“I love you (Pupil A) and I really hope we can be together, as this would make me the happiest man alive.”
In his evidence to the TRA, Mr Islam said he sent the message to find out if Pupil A felt the same way about him, that it was not sexual and he was seeking “companionship”.
He said he had never been in a relationship before, never pursued sex outside of marriage, indicating it would be against his religious beliefs, and that his previous use of dating apps proved he was only interested in finding someone to marry.
He described his feelings as “infatuation”, and told of how he had been infatuated 10 to 20 times in his life.
Mr Islam believed that Pupil A liked him or had feelings for him, according to the panel, which then concluded he failed to follow the school’s safeguarding process in the wake of this belief. It was found that his conduct could bring the teaching profession into disrepute.
“The panel considered that a fully informed member of the public would unquestionably find it to be entirely unacceptable for a teacher to seek to pursue a relationship with a child for whom he was responsible, including in declaring love to her and seeking to pursue a future relationship, as it had found that Mr Islam had,” the panel said.
“The panel noted the clear upset which had been caused to Pupil A.”
Mr Islam said he understands, despite his feelings, that it was wrong to tell a pupil he loved her.
He said he was a relatively new teacher at the time and made a poor decision for which he apologised, and that he had changed over the past four years.
Mr Islam has been banned indefinitely from teaching in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
