YINCHUAN, Aug. 8 -- A court in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region said on Saturday it has sentenced a kindergarten teacher to life in prison for sexually assaulting 12 girls.

The Intermediate People's Court in Yinchuan found the defendant, Huang Zhenxin, guilty of raping or molesting 12 of his students.

Huang was a teacher at a rural kindergarten in the city of Lingwu.

Lingwu police said Huang sexually assaulted the girls after he told them he would tutor them on their homework.

The kindergarten offered compensation to the victims.