The new semester has begun, and seeing the other children happily returning to campus, Ms. Wang feels a lot of feelings. She worries that her son, Tong Tong (pseudonym), who is less than 4 years old, is still afraid of kindergarten and resists going to school. Ms. Wang said her son’s fear stemmed from an encounter at the Red Magnolia Kindergarten in Nancheng, Dongguan, last semester. By reviewing kindergarten surveillance video, she found that her son was physically punished by his teacher by slapping, pushing and even binding his legs during school.
The reporter learned from many sources that the teacher involved had been dismissed from the kindergarten and was administratively detained. The Nancheng education management department also imposed corresponding penalties on the kindergarten.
Surveillance footage shows boys with their legs tied in the classroom
It all started on April 4 this year. After school that day, Ms. Wang found that her son’s situation was a little abnormal, and after repeated inquiries, the son told her that she had been tied up by the teacher in the kindergarten. The next day, Ms. Wang reported the matter to the then kindergarten director. On April 23, with the consent of the then principal, Ms. Wang went to the kindergarten to check the video surveillance of April 4. Ms. Wang said she checked surveillance and found that her son’s arms and legs were tapeed by the head teacher, Teacher Hu, on April 26 for one hour and 4 minutes. Not only that, but the son was subjected to other forms of corporal punishment by his teacher.
Ms. Wang told reporters that she also checked the surveillance video of March 3, April 29 and April 4, and also found that Teacher Hu had some suspected corporal punishment of Tong Tong. “On April 18, he accidentally bumped into Teacher Hu, and after being repeatedly pushed and shoved by Teacher Hu, he was also asked to raise his hands for punishment, which lasted for more than 4 minutes.” Ms. Wang said.
In one of the videos provided to reporters by Ms. Wang, Tong Tong’s legs can be seen tied with tape. Tong Tong, whose legs were bound, stood in the classroom, trying to walk but unable to walk, and fell several times. There are also video clips showing that at the door of the classroom, a teacher repeatedly pushed, dragged, pulled and other actions on the child, causing him to fall to the ground, but the teacher did not lift the child up in time.
Ms. Wang revealed that Tong Tong started kindergarten in September last year, when he was not yet three years old. She could never have imagined that a child in his early threes would be treated like this by a teacher. After this incident, Ms. Wang fell into endless self-blame. She felt that there were already some signs before this, but as the mother of the child, she did not notice it. “There was a time when children would cry frequently every night, were in a bad mood, and were very resistant to going to kindergarten. We also used various means to force him to go to school. Who would have thought that he would have such an encounter in kindergarten? Ms. Wang believes that the child’s experience in kindergarten has caused physical and mental damage.
The teacher involved has been dismissed and administratively detained
After checking the monitoring, Ms. Wang quickly negotiated with the kindergarten and called the police. According to Ms. Wang, at that time, she tried her best to calm the child’s psychology, did not go to work much, and the whole family was in a state of anxiety. However, communication with the kindergarten was not smooth.
Ms. Wu, the person in charge of the Red Magnolia Kindergarten, said in an interview with reporters that after the kindergarten learned of the incident, it immediately sent someone to apologize to the parents and cooperate with the police’s investigation. They also offered to contact professional institutions for psychological intervention and reassurance. In addition, the kindergarten also negotiated compensation with parents, but it was difficult to reach a consensus on the amount of compensation. Ms. Wu revealed that after the incident, the teacher involved was dismissed from the kindergarten and administratively detained by the public security organs. Two other teachers in the class left at the end of the semester.
During the interview, Ms. Wang provided the reporter with a copy of the “Dongguan Municipal Public Security Bureau Administrative Punishment Decision”, which showed that on April 2023, 4, when the offender Hu Moumou was attending class at the Red Magnolia Kindergarten in Nancheng Street, Dongguan City, because he thought that the students in the class were naughty and active, he kicked and beat the children, and tied the children’s feet with transparent tape for corporal punishment for up to one hour, and his behavior exceeded his normal performance of educational duties. The Dongguan Municipal Public Security Bureau decided to give Hu 23 days of administrative detention and a fine of <>,<> yuan, and confiscated a roll of transparent tape. (The names in the original copy of the administrative punishment decision are all real names, and this report is replaced by a pseudonym.) ）
The reporter learned that the Nancheng Street Education Management Department promptly investigated and dealt with the matter, made corresponding sanctions for the then principal and notified the whole street, and gave the kindergarten annual inspection a punishment of “rectification within a time limit” and could not be evaluated within three years, and will be further dealt with according to the follow-up situation. At present, the Nancheng Education Management Center is coordinating with parents and kindergartens to deal with this matter.
Parents look forward to seeing more video recordings
Since April 4, Ms. Wang has not sent her son to kindergarten. “I took him to a psychiatric hospital and a psychological counseling center, but the doctor said that the child was too young and it was difficult to intervene, and suggested that we spend more time with the child.” Ms. Wang said that after a month, Tong Tong’s condition gradually improved.
Now, although Tong Tong has changed to a new kindergarten in the new semester, Ms. Wang is still anxious. In addition to fruitless communication on the issue of compensation, her request to the police station handling the case to view the surveillance video was denied. “When I only looked at the footage for four days in kindergarten, I found a lot of things. How do you make sure that something like this doesn’t happen at other times? ”
