CAIRO — It was a usual day at elementary school for Kawthar*, until her Arabic teacher finished his lesson, approached her, touched her chest and then slapped her on her bottom. Kawthar froze in place, overwhelmed by shock.
Her family learned of the incident and filed a complaint with the school principal, who initiated an internal investigation. But that led to nothing.
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Similar incidents occurred with her classmates leading to multiple complaints against the teacher, who allegedly had a habit of reaching under his students’ shirts and touching their chests. With the increasing complaints, a lawsuit was filed with Egypt’s Public Prosecution accusing the teacher of sexually assaulting 10 students, “violating their honor by force and touching their private parts, exploiting their fear of his retaliation and his ability to harm their academic performance in his subject.”
In her testimony, in an official report obtained by Al-Manassa, the school principal said that “a committee was formed to investigate the parents’ complaints, but I did not witness any of the incidents described by the students.” But with the consistency of testimonies and evidence, the teacher was sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labor.
The case of Kawthar and her nine classmates is not an isolated incident. In a 2021 opinion poll by the Tadween Center for Gender Studies in Egypt, 23% of women polled said they had experienced harassment in educational settings. Egyptian court archives between 2020 and 2024 are filled with cases where teachers and school staff were convicted of sexual assault and harassment of female students, due to the failure of school administrations to protect them and the lack of procedures to ensure their safety from sexual abuse and to hold perpetrators accountable.
Not isolated incidents
Among the measures that could protect victims is the installation of surveillance cameras. In November 2017, the Legislative Committee of the House of Representatives approved draft law submitted by the government to regulate the installation and use of surveillance cameras and recording devices in several facilities, including educational institutions, to protect these establishments. But the law has not yet been issued.
Then, in September 2023, the Ministry of Education sent a letter to schools emphasizing the need to install surveillance camera systems, but this was aimed at securing schools against theft and vandalism, and did not include protecting students inside schools.
In August of last year, Education Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif decided to install surveillance cameras in classrooms to enhance security and safety within schools, reduce unwanted behavior and ensure students’ focus on the educational process. Yet implementing the minister’s decision to monitor more than 560,000 classrooms requires over 1 million cameras, as education expert Dr. Kamal Maghith said in a previous press interview.
The psychological impact
“Uncle Mohamed touched me and hurt me,” five-year-old Suad* said after preschool to her mother, who rushed her to the nearest hospital for examination that revealed signs of sexual assault.
The mother went to the police station, where she was directed to the school, saying “Maybe they can cooperate with you instead of us filing a report and going through procedures. Talk to the school first,” she recalled in a television interview in November 2021. “We went to the school, met with the principal, and of course their response was to mock us and say that there is no man in the area named Uncle Mohamed.” When she demanded to see the surveillance footage, the principal denied it existed and added, “Why is it your daughter who this happened to and not the other girls?” The school’s final response was that the administration would “look into the matter and investigate if it happens again.”
The mother doubted the school administration’s account and asked on the school’s WhatsApp group about the presence of men around the students’ activities. Indeed, the mothers sent her pictures of two men. When she showed the pictures to her daughter, she identified one of them as the perpetrator, who turned out to be an elevator worker named A. Mohamed, who would sit near the bathrooms, where he would prey on his victims.
Suad’s mother’s inquiries raised suspicions among other mothers, who asked their daughters and discovered that four of them had been sexually assaulted. When the victims’ families confronted the school administration, they decided to dismiss the worker, considering this the “maximum punishment” that could be imposed, the mother said on the television program.
The question is, how many girls did he harass over 11 years?
Unsatisfied, the mothers filed a lawsuit accusing the elevator worker of sexually assaulting four preschool girls between 3 and 5 years old. Forensic reports confirmed the sexual assaults on the four girls. A report by the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood also indicated that these assaults caused psychological disorders, requiring the girls to undergo psychological support sessions and behavioral modification.
“The accused had been working in his position for 11 years without any criminal record, and in one month, five victims in nursery age were discovered. The question is, how many girls did he harass over 11 years without his crime being uncovered?” lawyer Doaa Osman, a representative for the victims, said to the press.
The victims have not overcome the psychological impact of the assault. One mother said her daughter “experiences night terrors and constantly asks: Dad, are you next to me? Mom, are you next to me? She is always fearful. I cannot describe the amount of anguish and pain she is going through. Instead of going to school and doing her homework, she is undergoing physical and psychological treatment for the effects of the assault.”
Acknowledging the phenomenon
In 2020, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld a judicial ruling to dismiss a teacher who harassed 120 students in Alexandria. In its ruling, the court acknowledged that sexual harassment in schools is a “phenomenon” and accused some state agencies of failing to address “teachers harassing young girls taking their first steps in education.” The ruling cited the General Committee for Child Protection in Alexandria Governorate, headed by the governor, and the Subcommittee for Child Protection of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood.
In August 2021, a legal amendment related to sexual harassment in schools was issued, including a provision related to harassers in positions of academic authority over students. It states that sexual harassment is considered a crime if the perpetrator aims to obtain a sexual benefit from the victim and is punishable by imprisonment for no less than five years. If the perpetrator has functional, familial, or academic authority over the victim, or exerts pressure allowed by their position, or if the crime is committed by two or more persons with at least one of them carrying a weapon, the penalty is increased to imprisonment for no less than seven years.
Sexual assault incidents against students continue to occur.
In January 2024, Senator Reham Afifi submitted a request that teachers, especially those teaching in elementary schools, undergo periodic psychological evaluations to assess their mental and physical health, as well as appoint trained female psychologists in schools to handle harassment incidents.
Despite multiple decisions and rulings convicting those involved in assaults within schools, no precautionary measures such as installing cameras or providing a conducive environment within schools to encourage victims to disclose harassment incidents have been taken. Sexual assault incidents against students continue to occur.
In January 2024, the Administrative Prosecution referred a teacher at an Assiut elementary school to an expedited trial on charges of harassing 10 students aged between 9 and 11 years old. In March of the same year, MP Alaa Suleiman submitted an urgent request to the House of Representatives to investigate a teacher in a case of harassing four students at “S.A.A Basic Education School” in the same governorate.
(*) Pseudonyms to protect the privacy of victims.
