The Education Ministry yesterday began a separate investigation into allegations that four schoolboys raped a 16-year-old classmate in a school on the island of Evia.

The teenagers were charged with rape on Monday. Their parents were accused of failing to control the boys.

However, the ministry wants to conduct its own probe to find out if any of the teachers at the high school in Amarynthos were negligent or if they could have done more to prevent the alleged incident.

The unnamed schoolboys said that the 16-year-old girl consented to having sex with all four while students were staging a sit-in protest. Three schoolgirls have been accused of witnessing the incident and failing to intervene.

The alleged victim and her mother have been placed under police protection after being vocally abused by some locals outside a courthouse on Monday.