Two prominent Egyptian rights organizations have filed a landmark lawsuit against Education Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif, holding him legally accountable for the escalating pattern of sexual harassment, assault, and negligence within the nation’s schools.
The case, brought before the Administrative Court, demands urgent action to enforce constitutional and legal obligations to safeguard students.
The Egyptian Foundation for the Advancement of Childhood Conditions (EFACC) and the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights jointly announced the lawsuit on Thursday. The court has set an emergency hearing for 15 January 2026, with a full trial on the case’s merits scheduled for 15 March.
At the heart of the case is the ministry’s failure to implement Article 10 of the executive regulations of Child Law No. 12 of 2008. Article 10 requires all relevant institutions to establish written policies protecting children from all forms of violence, exploitation, and abuse. The law mandates clear procedures for recruitment, staff training, and the creation of complaint and intervention mechanisms.
The lawsuit comes amid a disturbing surge in documented child sexual abuse cases across state, private, and international schools, as well as training centers. These incidents, involving both physical and psychological trauma, have been the subject of police reports and legal investigations. The plaintiffs argue that the growing number of cases reveals not isolated incidents, but systemic and institutional failure.
“This is not a collection of random crimes,” the groups stated. “It reflects a structural collapse in child protection enforcement within Egypt’s educational institutions.”
The organizations emphasized that the ministry’s responsibilities extend beyond issuing policy directives. Real accountability, they stressed, requires active monitoring, enforcement, and public transparency. “This is not optional. It is a legal mandate,” the statement read.
They further affirmed their commitment to working with the Ministry to build a unified national child protection system, calling for an integrated reporting, follow-up, and rapid-response framework, and mandatory staff training across all educational facilities.
“Safeguarding children is not a luxury—it is an investment in the nation’s future, a legal right, and a moral imperative,” the groups asserted.
The case also aims to legally affirm that child protection is not discretionary, but a constitutional and statutory requirement, in line with both domestic law and international conventions.
On Tuesday, the New Woman Foundation, a prominent feminist NGO submitted a comprehensive sex-ed curriculum, 18 years in the making, to the ministry. The ministry spokesperson told Al Manassa that had been neither notified of nor able to review the proposed curriculum.
In recent months, incidents of sexual violence against schoolchildren have continued to surface at an alarming rate. On Sunday, the ministry seized direct control of the Nile Egyptian International Schools following the confession of the school's security guard of sexually assaulting five children.
In early December, a school gardener at Alexandria Language School was accused of molesting four kindergarten children. The court later convicted him, unanimously referring his case to the Grand Mufti, a procedural requirement preceding the death sentence.
Two weeks prior, at Seeds International School in Cairo, five students were reportedly subjected to sexual assault and harassment. The suspects were charged with abduction and indecent assault, and the case was referred to military prosecution.
A southern Mansoura criminal court also sentenced a student's father to five years last week, on charges of sexual extortion of his child's female teacher. The ruling came despite the school's attempts to cover up the case, forcing the teacher to resign with no compensation.
In recent months, the Public Prosecution has referred multiple teachers to disciplinary trials on similar charges. In 2020, Egypt’s top administrative court upheld the dismissal of a teacher who had harassed 120 students in Alexandria—a ruling that confirmed sexual violence in schools is systemic and state responses have been inadequate.
