The Higher Administrative Court on Sunday dismissed a math teacher in Alexandria for collectively sexually harassing 120 female students in two sixth grade classes in primary school.
The court referred to the Article 96 of the Child Law No.1996, amended by Law No.126 of 2008 which stipulates that “The child shall be considered at risk if he is exposed to a situation threatening the sound upbringing that should be made available to him, or in any of the following cases,” explaining that the child is considered at risk when he/she is exposed to violence, immoral acts, pornography, commercial exploitation, sexual harassment or exploitation within the family, school, care institutions.
The actions the teacher was accused of committing included instructing the girls to sit on his lap and touching them inappropriately.
The court set 10 principles to confront school harassment, based upon facing harassment of the Egyptian girl and the usurping of her rights – such as through circumcision, underage marriage and inheritance deprivation.
Teachers have an educational role to teach chastity and dignity to their female students, and that harassing girls in school is an aggression towards society, the court stressed.
The court called on non-governmental organizations to participate with the government to confront the harassment of girls and their feelings of inferiority.
The House of Representatives has enacted laws to criminalize all forms of harassment all over the country which impact women of different classes and ages, the court stated, stressing further that any sexual gestures, words and actions are banned from learning tools in the schools.
The court further called on the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood to activate the role of the General Department for Child Helpline, tasked with receiving complaints of harassment from the children and adults, investigating these complaints, follow up the results of investigations and send the results to specialized authorities, as according to Article 98 of the Child Law.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
