Abuse scandal: New preschool in Taipei has to suspend students

New Taipei, July 22 (CNA) — A quasi-public preschool in New Taipei’s Banqiao District will have to suspend the admission of new students after three of its teachers were accused of physically abusing eight children at the facility earlier this year, the city’s Department of Education said Monday.

According to the authority, a committee has been set up to investigate allegations against three teachers surnamed Kao (高), Chiang (江) and Chang (張) at the preschool (福音幼兒園 in Chinese), which is affiliated with the Banciao Gospel Church.

According to parents of students at this school, their children were physically abused, including being slapped in the face and being dragged by their feet with considerable force.

During its investigation, the committee interviewed the children’s parents, examined evidence and concluded that the allegations against the three teachers are true.

Kao, Chiang and Chang were subsequently given administrative fines of NT$600,000 (US$18,243), NT$300,000 and NT$30,000 respectively, while the preschool owner was fined NT$60,000 for negligence, the agency said.

In addition, according to the authority, the teachers have been banned for life, meaning they will never be allowed to work as teachers in Taiwan again.

The department’s administrative investigations and penalties are independent of the criminal investigation into the case, which is being conducted by the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for alleged personal injuries.

Although the Banqiao facility has been allowed to continue operating, it has been barred from accepting new students and ordered to make improvements, and will lose its status as a “quasi-public” preschool that receives certain government subsidies, effective August 1, the authority added.

The school’s principal, who wished to remain anonymous, recently told CNA that although teachers behaved “somewhat inappropriately” toward students, they did so to keep the class under control and that they had already apologized to parents for their behavior.

The government had not taken into account the teachers’ workload or the level of their salaries, the headmaster argued. The punishments it imposed were “actually a bit too harsh”.

Huang Shu-chun (黃淑君), a city councilor with the Democratic Progressive Party, criticized the New Taipei Department of Education’s slow handling of the case, which occurred in March.

The fines were imposed on the teachers on June 13, and the preschool did not hold a parent meeting to explain the incident until June 21, Huang said, arguing that the other parents probably did not know about the situation until then.

Meanwhile, the city council also regretted that the facility had been granted quasi-public preschool status and called for the department to be more cautious in its assessment.

In response to these criticisms, the agency’s commissioner, Chang Ming-wen (張明文), said that certain procedures are necessary when investigating a matter related to the Law on the Protection of the Welfare and Rights of Children and Adolescents, stressing that an investigation was launched in April as soon as the agency became aware of the problem.

The fines were imposed in June and meetings with parents were held afterwards, the commissioner said, adding that the preschool stopped accepting new pupils in June.

The institution previously had over 30 students, and after consulting with their parents, many decided to leave the preschool. Currently, fewer than 10 students are enrolled, he said, stressing that his department will “ensure the rights and interests of every student who remains at the school.”