Teachers detained for syringe punishment in kindergarten
Two kindergarten teachers in the city of Tongxiang in Zhejiang Province were detained and fined on Friday for pricking children’s bottoms with a syringe filled with diluted paint pigment, Xinhua News reports.
Children attending the kindergarten were learning social etiquette and proper behavior, but two teachers, surnamed Shen and Fan, from Noah International Kindergarten went too far and broke the law to make their students behave.
On Wednesday night, a parent surnamed Wu found a red spot similar to that of an injection wound on his child's bottom. After questioning the child, he was astonished to learn that the child was pricked with a syringe because he disobeyed the teacher.
Wu immediately contacted several other parents, who checked their children and discovered the same red spots on the children's bottoms. They soon reported their discovery to the police.
Called upon for an investigation, the police searched the kindergarten at night and found the syringe and a knitting needle from one classroom. The syringe was equipped with a needle and was filled with green liquid.
According to the children, the teachers would prick them if they didn't take a nap or used a straw to drink from a cup. Sometimes the two teachers punished students simply because they talked too much.
"It hurt," one student told Chinese video news service Pear Video.
The parents brought the children to a local hospital for physical checkups. So far, no contagion or infection has occurred, but parents worry about possible sequela.
A further police investigation followed, proving Shen and Fan threatening and pricking nine students who disobeyed them. Shen was fined 500 yuan (73 USD) and detained for ten days, and both were fired while the kindergarten was suspended.
Netizens were not happy about the results.
"The children could've got infections and psychological trauma. They may become afraid of going to the hospital now," @wudidamimi commented on Weibo, China's equivalent of twitter.