Female teacher of RYB kindergarten held for 'child abuse'

A teacher from a RYB kindergarten was detained for alleged child abuse in Beijing on Saturday.

The suspect, surnamed Liu, a 22-year-old woman from Hebei province, was sent to criminal detention, according to the police.

Several parents reported to police on Wednesday night that their children, all around 3 years old and enrolled at the RYB Xintiandi branch, had needle marks on their bodies and were repeatedly fed unidentified white pills.

An investigation was launched immediately.

On Saturday, the police also detained another woman, 31, also surnamed Liu, for spreading rumors about the incident.

The government of Chaoyang district has ordered the head of RYB Education to immediately fire the head of the kindergarten where the incident occurred and punish others found responsible.

On Saturday night, RYB issued a statement, saying the teacher surnamed Liu and the head of the kindergarten have been fired.

RYB will also actively cooperate with police in further investigation.

It will also communicate with parents and invite mental health experts to provide help for children involved.

The education commission of Beijing's Chaoyang district, which oversees the kindergarten, strongly condemned the incident and asked districts and kindergartens concerned to cooperate with judicial authorities for improvements.

"We consider this was an extreme case that harmed children with serious social repercussion," said the spokesman from Chaoyang district.

A thorough investigation was conducted in Chaoyang district and a special inspection to regulate the kindergartens' qualification was also launched, the district government added.

The Ministry of Education has started a special inspection of the management of kindergartens nationwide and asked local education authorities to take effective measures to improve teachers' morality and tighten supervision, according to a ministry release late Thursday.

RYB Education Kindergarten was China's largest early year education service provider in annual revenue last year, according to the Frost & Sullivan report.

This has been the third reported child abuse case in a month. On Nov 13, Shanghai police detained a person surnamed Zheng who was in charge of a day care center where staff were caught on camera abusing toddlers. Three other staff members were detained, according to Shanghai police.

Almost at the same time, Golden Cradle Education and Technology Group, which has more than 700 kindergartens and schools nationwide, also became involved in a similar accusation as parents said teachers at one of its kindergartens in Beijing abused children. Police are investigating, but so far no details have been released.