According to CCTV News China and Xinhua News Agency, police in China’s Jinlin Province have detained five kindergarten teachers “on suspicion of stabbing toddlers with needles.”
The teachers allegedly mistreated 28 toddlers in total, reported Xinhua News Agency on Thursday 17 December.
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Several parents had reportedly found pinprick marks on their kids’ bodies, including their hands, legs, heads and even mouths.
Gao Yu, a parent told Xinhua, “I actually called the school after finding the holes, but the teacher said they might be a rash and denied any abuse. But the next day when my child came home, I found new holes.”
The worried father mentioned his child saying that “the teachers would stab anyone who is naughty.”
After he took to social media to alert other parents, more mums and dads found the same pinprick marks on their children’s bodies.
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According to CCTV News, “the anxious parents then sent their children to local hospitals for forensic tests, which seemed to confirm their suspicions. On one of the victim child’s bodies, over 50 suspected pinholes were detected by the doctors.”
Following this medical evidence, police reportedly raided the school and arrested the suspects.
While China has laws banning the abuse of minors, many consider the punishment for perpetrators to be not tough enough.
Reports say that “this year, the law has been changed to include nannies, teachers and others with guardianship of children. Those violating the law can face up to three years in prison.”
In Singapore too, there have been cases of both pre- and primary-schoolers being abused at school. We can be thankful that these are rare cases and the majority of teachers would never harm a child under their care.
However, teacher bullying/abuse does unfortunately happen sometimes, and as parents, we can look out for signs in our little ones that may indicate that this is taking place:
- Physiological symptoms, such as increased heart rate, becoming tense, difficulty breathing, headaches;
- Behavioural symptoms, such as crying, running away, becoming clingy when you drop them off at school or when they are required to leave home for school, being reluctant to speak about the teacher;
- Cognitive symptoms, such as constant worry about negative experiences relating to the teacher, difficulties concentrating during classes with the teacher, which may lead to consequent decreases in achievement.
Read this theAsianparent article for more on this topic and how you can handle it.
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