Nearly two dozen male school pupils were arrested Tuesday in the southern city of Sohag for sexually harassing female classmates, Al-Ahram’s Arabic website reported on Tuesday.
The 23 pupils harassed the girls during end-of-year examinations taking place at their secondary school.
Sexual harassment is a widespread problem in Egyptian society.
Out of hundreds of women surveyed, more than 99 percent across seven of the country's 27 governorates reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment, ranging from minor harassment to rape, according to an April 2013 report by the United Nations along with Egypt's Demographic Centre and the National Planning Institute.
Last month, the cabinet approved a new anti-sexual harassment law, which criminalises harassment and sets penalties including prison sentences and fines for offenders.
Previously there had been no specific law proscribing sexual harassment in Egypt, although three articles in the penal code were sometimes applied to punish offenders.
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