CAIRO - As school violence has been on the rise recently in Egypt, Cairo prosecutors Saturday referred three schoolchildren to the Juvenile Court over raping a classmate in their school. Minister of Education Ahmed Zaki Badr, meanwhile, suspended for three months a primary school teacher for sexually assaulting a female student. "Three schoolchildren at Heliopolis Preparatory School were referred to the Juvenile Court for allegedly raping a colleague in the bedroom of their school," prosecutors said. They added that the three children, all 13 years old, could be jailed from one year to three, if found guilty. The father of the allegedly harassed child filed a report to the Chief Prosecutor two weeks ago against the three children purportedly for forcing his son to have sex with them inside the school facility. Minister Badr visited the school after the report was published and transferred some of its staff and its principal to some other schools. The Ministry of Education has recently introduced a new project to monitor violence in schools as private security guards will be deployed inside schools. The ministry has also created a hotline 19126 for students and teachers to directly report to the ministry incidents of violence. Minister Badr, meanwhile, suspended a primary school teacher in the Governorate of Daqahlia for allegedly assaulting a female student, whose parent lodged a complaint with the province's governor. "I have filed a report to the director of education department. However, he did nothing to punish the teacher who works for Al-Shaheed Primary School," said the father, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added that the minister had ordered the director to be questioned over the incident. School violence had come under the spotlight after a 23-year-old teacher beat an 11-year-old student to death in local school in 2008. The Alexandria Criminal Court sentenced the young teacher to six years in jail. The Egyptian Government says it is bringing in education reforms ��" including new teacher testing. A recent study, undertaken by the National Centre for Social and Criminal Research, found that 30 per cent of students have been subjected to violence, and that 80 per cent of violence that occurs in Egyptian schools occurs between students. Regarding the objects used by students in violence against other students; the most popular weapon is the belt, followed by nails, and knives. This study also showed that 91 per cent of students who are caught and disciplined are subjected to punishments, which could be labeled as violent.
