A teacher in Luzhou, Sichuan province, shows students "inappropriate touching places" during a class designed to raise children's awareness of how to protect themselves. Liu Chuanfu / for China Daily

Schools failing students

According to Shi Weizhong, a senior official at the procuratorate's prosecution department, loopholes in school safety are also to blame. Some schools failed to conduct regular patrols and didn't equip dormitories with safety features, such as alarms and intercoms, thereby providing opportunities for the perpetrators.

"Many sexual assaults occurred in classrooms and dormitories. Some even happened at the teacher's desk or in their offices," he said.

One such case is said to have occurred in November, when a sports teacher at a primary school in the capital allegedly molested two 7-year-old girls during gym classes.

The prosecution department claims that while the rest of the class was exercising, the teacher invited the girls into the equipment storeroom and made them stand with their hands against the wall while he undressed them and then sexually abused them.

It's alleged that over the course of about three months, the teacher frequently committed indecent acts on the girls, and always warned them not to say anything to their parents.

However, when the mother of one of victims discovered injuries on her daughter's hands and asked her how they had happened, the girl reluctantly told the whole story and the matter was immediately reported to the police.

The teacher has been charged with indecent behavior by the legal authorities and he will appear in court at a later date.

"The suspect is being held on a criminal charge, but his alleged obscene behavior has caused great pain to both the victim and her mother. Even when she is an adult, the girl will have to deal with misunderstandings, doubts and even criticism, because many members of the public believe that there's no smoke without fire and will say she must have encouraged her abuser. She may have to bear that stigma for the rest of her life," Zhao Hui, a lawyer representing one of the girls, said.

Hong Daode, a law professor at China University of Political Science and Law, said the legislation relating to the sexual abuse of children needs urgent revision. "The priority is to enact up-to-date laws to protect the legitimate rights of minors, and the judicial authorities need to set up a quick-response mechanism to handle such cases and impose severe punishments on the guilty," he said.

He said the laws that protect minors were last revised in 2004, so they no longer provide practical ways of dealing with such cases and the sentencing tariffs are no longer adequate.

According to Hong, sometimes, when cases of alleged sexual abuse of children are reported, a lack of immediate evidence means authorities - the police, prosecutors' departments and courts - are reluctant to commit large numbers of officers and technical staff to conduct further investigations, which can lead to long delays before the start of judicial proceedings.

"Even worse, during questioning, the police, prosecuting departments and the courts repeatedly ask minors for details of the abuse, which forces the girls to recall unpleasant, disturbing memories," he said.

To tackle the issue, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Supreme People's Court, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice issued a joint notice in October specifying severe punishments for sexual crimes against minors.