The usually noisy playground of Beijing’s Huanyu Kindergarten is empty. The doors are shut and the grounds are quiet, save for a trickle of staff members walking in and out of the building, refusing to speak to the media.
According to Chinese state media the school is the second in Beijing under investigation for allegations of child abuse.
An intern teacher at the school has been accused of pricking her students with needles, allegations she’s reportedly denied.
Huanyu is the latest school to be embroiled in a child abuse scandal which has rocked China.
Huanyu kindergarten in Beijing is the second to be embroiled in China's child abuse scandal, according to state media. Source: SBS News
It follows allegations at the RYB Education kindergarten in the city’s east last week where parents claim their children, some as young as three years old, were pricked with needles, drugged and molested.
The Chaoyang district government said police opened an investigation after parents called the authorities on Wednesday to report the suspected abuse. A 22-year-old female teacher has been detained and the principal fired.
China’s Ministry of Education has since ordered nationwide safety checks and inspections of kindergartens across the country.
At the weekend Beijing announced that inspectors will be assigned to every kindergarten in the city. Schools have also been ordered to install surveillance cameras, some linked directly with local police stations.
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The RYB school kindergarten is run by a Chinese company listed on the New York Stock Exchange which operates more than a thousand day care centres across 300 Chinese cities.
In a statement released on Friday it apologised to parents and the public for causing “serious worries”.
The scandal has stirred nationwide outrage, with netizens taking to Chinese social media complaining the response from both the government and the schools involved have been inadequate.
Chinese censors have been quick to remove harsh government criticisms online. And according to the police, a 31-year-old woman has been arrested for disrupting public order by spreading false information about molestation on the internet.
