Beijing, Nov 29 (IANS): A 60-year-old Chinese teacher was detained for molesting 19 school girls, officials said Saturday.

Zhou Jianmin, who was to retire soon, confessed to the police that he had molested 19 girls, Xinhua reported.

Zhou taught science for grade three and grade four students at the Bazishao Township School in Hunan province.

Zeng Xinyue, principal of the school, was dismissed from his post by the district education bureau.

So far 26 girls, around eight to 11 years old, have received body checks. Two of them, it came to light, suffered from genital inflammation.

The government has offered psychological consultation to the affected students.

China has had a string of child molestation cases involving teachers in recent years.

In April, a court in Anhui province sentenced a school teacher to death for raping five school girls and molesting six others.

In September, a 61-year-old primary school teacher was detained for raping several girls in Hubei province.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate announced in May that China charged a total of 8,069 people with child molestation from 2010 to 2013.