SINGAPORE (AP) — Their affair started with her giving him a copy of the mushy memoir ‘‘Eat, Pray, Love.’’ It ended with the 32-year-old female teacher in Singapore getting a jail sentence for illicit sex with her 15-year-old male student.

The case, which shocked Singapore, was the latest in a string of scandals involving the city-state’s educators, who in the past year have been caught embezzling college money, committing lewd behavior, peddling drugs and a couple of times having sex with students. At least 10 such cases have reached the courts this year.

In a country known for its orderliness and strict laws where even jay-walking and public spitting are punishable offenses, the scandals are raising questions about whether the government — in its hugely successful efforts to control political dissidence and crime — has ignored declining moral and social standards.

More surprising is that such egregious cases have been recorded in Singapore’s highly regarded educational system, where both teachers and students are conditioned from first grade to be disciplined, rule-fearing and committed to academic excellence. A student’s academic future is determined at age 10 through a streaming system, which pushes over-achievers into a fast-track schooling. At age 12 they take a national test to get into top schools.

‘‘This over emphasis on results does not directly contribute to falling standards of probity in schools. Rather, what it did was to reduce the importance placed on values, character and integrity,’’ said Eugene Tan, an assistant professor of law at the Singapore Management University.

‘‘In a sense we took our eyes off the ball when we shouldn’t have. I think the matter is a lot more complex with multi-causal factors, including a general societal decline in moral standards,’’ he said.

Gabriel Tan, an associate professor of psychology at the National University of Singapore, said there is a general sense of frustration among Singaporeans at the ‘‘very tight control’’ on society by the government. This control has long ensured that people conform to the government’s vision of a good society—law-abiding, hard-working, health-conscious staid nationalists.

‘‘Recently, in the last elections, there seemed to be a sort of murmur among people saying they wanted a more open government so this (spate of scandals) actually may reflect Singapore moving in the direction where you are questioning and abusing authority,’’ said Tan.

By far, 2012 was the worst year for schools, colleges and teachers in attracting unsavory attention.

The teacher-student affair was the most shocking. The mother of two cannot be identified to protect the privacy of her sex partner, who is underage. Facing up to 20 years in jail, she was sentenced on Oct. 29 to one year in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual offenses with a person under 16 years of age.

‘‘As a parent, you don’t see how classroom lessons and extracurricular activities are conducted,’’ said Elaine Khoo, a 43-year old banker and mother of two. ‘‘Naturally that means you have to place your trust in the school to do what’s best for your child, but what if it’s at the hands of morally-questionable people masquerading as teachers?’’

In passing the sentence, District Judge Eugene Teo noted that the teacher had ‘‘no predatory pedophilic tendencies.’’

‘‘There are no shades of anything in a saga such as this, no justifications; only a clear line not to be crossed,’’ Teo said.

The court heard that the student was traumatized following a boating accident during an overseas school trip in 2011. He started confiding in the teacher, who had chaperoned the excursion. She then began wooing him with gifts, including a copy of ‘‘Eat, Pray, Love’’ by Elizabeth Gilbert that was made into a movie starring Julia Roberts.

That, according to prosecutors, led to the beginning of an affair during which she took the boy to her home in December 2011 where she performed oral sex on him with his consent. She took him home again in January 2012 where they had consensual sex several times, according to prosecutors.

The affair came to light after the boy’s parents became suspicious and lodged a complaint.