NANCHANG -- A primary school teacher in East China's Jiangxi province was sentenced to 14 years in jail on Friday for molesting seven of his female pupils, local authorities said on Saturday.

Tao Biaogong, a teacher at the Shangyuan Primary School in Fanzhen township in the city of Ruichang, molested seven second-grade girls in class on many occasions from September 2012 to May 2013, according to the people's court of the city.

Tao's sexual assaults also caused six of the girls to become infected with sexually transmitted diseases, the court said.

He was detained on July 5 after the girls' parents had reported the cases to the police. He was also deprived of political rights for four years.

Tao was sentenced severely as his deeds seriously hurt the physical and mental health of the young girls, said the court.

Sources with the Supreme People's Court said in May that courts would crack down on crimes against juveniles, show minimal tolerance toward such offenders and offer the greatest level of protection to children.