Why child abuse is no rare occurrence in China's kindergartens

A high-profile child abuse case that was recently exposed in Beijing has put the entire country in deep anguish and fury, casting a long shadow over China’s flourishing early education industry.

The scandal was revealed after some media outlets quoted parents as saying their children were forced to strip as punishment and were found with visible needle marks on their bodies.

The children were all from the same Beijing kindergarten run by RYB Education Institution, a US-listed company. It caused a public backlash over the past week or so and raised unprecedented questions about the qualifications and credibility of tutors and early education institutions.

In fact, child abuse in kindergartens has become a recurring theme in Chinese media coverage. Since December 2012, six cases of kindergarten abuse have been reported in Beijing and Guangdong Province. In the latest scandal, teachers were reported to have punished the children through beatings or needling and forcing them to use sleeping pills.

So under what soil did the increasing child abuse cases grow?

Teachers in short supply

The first thing to note is the huge imbalance between the numbers of teachers and preschool children in China. Statistics show that there are over 44 million preschoolers while there are only 2.2 million trained kindergarten teachers.

In these circumstances, for every teacher there are 20 children on average. According to an official document published by the ministry of education in 2013, the teacher-student ratio in nursery schools should be about 1:5 to 1:7, which means there are 2.4 million job vacancies to be filled.

Education level

Since the preschool teachers are now in woefully short supply, the standards for starting a career in this area have become relatively low. A 2009 figure showed that about 88 percent of students majoring in preschool education across China only have a secondary school diploma, while the number of college graduates stands at 3.1 percent.

Unfavorable job?

There is also evidence showing preschool teachers have low job satisfaction, especially when it comes to pay. Around 22 percent of teachers said they had to work over 10 hours per day, but the average salary for them is around 3,000 yuan per month. For those with a degree, the pay is still inferior to other jobs.

Future concerns

The problem will be aggravated as a result of China ending its decade-long one-child policy, allowing more families to have a second child. In the next five years, the baby boom will lead to an increase of 17 to 20 million newborns every year, making it difficult for current teaching infrastructure to match up.

On Saturday, police said in a statement that an investigation into the Beijing kindergarten had led to the criminal detention of a 22-year-old female teacher.

They also detained three others for allegedly spreading false information online.

The kindergarten apologized by releasing a statement on its social media account and promised to sack the principal and introduce a new management team.