Parents whose children were abused by a kindergarten teacher in Wenling, ZhejiangProvince, are suing the pre-school for mismanagement and are demandingcompensation for their children’s trauma.
”Kindergartens are responsible for their teacher’s behavior and we decided to takelegal action to protect our children,” the mother of the boy who was lifted off the groundby his ears by his teacher told the Global Times. The mother, surnamed Lin, said herson is still reluctant to go to his new kindergarten for fear of being abused again.
Yan Yanhong, the dismissed kindergarten teacher, was detained by local police onOctober 25 after photos showed her mistreating children were posted online. She wasreleased on November 16 as local police pointed out on its official Sina microblog thatYan’s behavior could not be defined as a crime based on the Criminal Law.
”Parents have a right to file a civil lawsuit against the kindergarten after the criminalprocess failed to protect their children,” Zhang Wenjuan, deputy director of the BeijingJuvenile Legal Aid and Research Center, told the Global Times.
”The Wenling kindergarten surely failed to meet their responsibility of protectingchildren and parents will probably win the lawsuit based on the teacher’s misbehaviorand the kindergarten’s neglect of duty,” Zhang added.
According to the law, kindergartens are responsible for the mistreatment ofkindergarten children unless they can prove they fulfilled their duty to supervise andmanage their school’s staff.
Lin said she and four other parents involved in the law suit were disappointed that Yanwas released, after the teacher had abused their children both physically andpsychologically. She and other parents thought Yan should be sentenced to severalyears in jail.
”China does not have a law to specifically deal with child abuse by someone outside thechild’s family. Also, the criminal law stipulates that the victims of child abuse shouldinitiate a lawsuit themselves, but it is impossible for children to do that,” said Zhang.
”Yan has escaped legal punishment, but it does not mean that the kindergarten is freefrom the incident. We hope that all children can receive good education through ourefforts,” said Lin.
An Lijuan, a deputy to the Beijing People’s Congress who submitted a proposal onpreschool education in 2010, said that more work has to be done to better protectchildren. “Kindergartens should improve their recruitment standard and strengthencommunication with parents.”