Child abuse in kindergartens calls for tighter management

Any member of staff at a Beijing kindergarten of RYB Education New World, if proved by a police investigation to be involved in child abuse, should be shown no leniency in terms of legal penalties. And RYB Education, a New York listed company, to which the kindergarten is affiliated, should also receive deserved punishment for its lack of proper management.

This is not the first incident of its kind. There have been similar reports concerning other kindergartens in recent years. Neither is it the first one involving a kindergarten of RYB Education. Four teachers at an RYB kindergarten in Siping, Northeast China's Jilin province, received prison sentences for jabbing 17 children with needles last year.

True, a lack of qualified teachers has long been a headache for kindergartens, whose number has been increasing rapidly. The development of preschool education in the country still lags far behind the boom in demand. It is thus natural for some kindergartens to recruit teachers who have never received the training required for the job.