Taipei admits negligence in preschool sexual harassment case

Taipei, July 27 (CNA) — The Taipei City Government on Friday admitted negligence in its handling of a sexual assault case at a preschool kindergarten in 2022 and said two of its departments would be punished by a performance review committee.

Both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Affairs are responsible for their negligence and will be punished by the city’s performance appraisal committee, said a city government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The case will also be forwarded to the Control Yuan, the government’s top regulatory agency, for investigation, the official added.

His comments came in the wake of a case involving Taipei private preschool teacher Mao Chun-shen (毛畯珅), who was charged with sexually abusing six children in August 2023. A verdict in the case is expected in August 2024.

Mao, 30, has been investigated by authorities on multiple occasions for sexual abuse of minors. The first complaints were filed in June 2022, but Mao continued to teach at the Taipei Piramide School (台北市私立培諾米達幼兒園), owned by his mother, until he was arrested a year later in July 2023.

The city government was accused of not handling the case effectively, and on July 17, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) delivered an apology to the children and their parents and promised to improve the city’s policies and procedures.

Problems identified in handling the case included deficiencies in inter-departmental communication and failure of the two departments to discuss and jointly address complaints received through the reporting mechanism, the official said.

In addition, the Ministry of Education has neither immediately suspended the suspect from teaching at the preschool nor placed the institution under supervision. All this shows how little sensitivity the staff shows in this matter, the official added.

According to the official, the city government has proposed a number of improvement measures, including immediately suspending a suspect from duty once a complaint is received and setting up a cross-departmental response team to investigate and monitor the case.

A procedural standard will also be introduced to improve the city’s multiple oversight mechanisms while expanding background checks on teachers and staff at local preschools and daycare centers, he added.

At the same time, the city government is trying to increase its budget to hire more staff who can improve investigative efficiency in handling such cases and provide the necessary training, he said.