Kindergarten Teacher Found Guilty of Child Abuse 新竹幼兒園對孩童施暴 一審教保員判6個月

The court found a preschool teacher guilty of child abuse, whom was later blacklisted by the Hsinchu County Education Department. The teacher was also sentenced to six months in prison. However,  family members questioned the education department's negligence in administrative investigations. 
 

The preschool teacher suddenly grabbed the boy's ankle and he fell to the ground. She continued to grab the boy's right foot and the boy hit the ground at least 48 times. This improper discipline in 2019 was discovered because another boy had a wound on his mouth. It was only after he sought medical treatment that it was discovered that he had been violently treated at school.

Boy Victim's Grandma: “The doctor said it's not an enterovirus and resulted from the external force because he is still bleeding and has scratch marks.”

The boy said that the teacher put a toy in his mouth which caused him to bleed. His parents angrily filed a lawsuit. In the trial's first instance, the teacher was sentenced to six months in prison. The parents also accused the Hsinchu County Education Department of a negligent administrative investigation.

Kuo Ming-han, Family Lawyer: “Why did the department's administrative investigation not find any negligence or problems? But the court found the teacher guilty. We think the city needs to improve its administration.”

The Hsinchu County Education Department responded that it punished the kindergarten for this incident in 2019. After learning of the verdict this year, the department also blacklisted the teacher and published her name on its website in May. The county government also hopes central government regulations can be improved.

Tsai Shu-chen, Deputy Director, Education Dept., Hsinchu County: “Persons who have been sentenced by relevant central judicial units were all announced publicly. They did not notify us of relevant local authorities directly. We want to be able to build a system where we are capable of immediately processing the information.”

The county education department stated that the central government is already working out and formulating methods and regulations for investigating relevant educators and teachers for illegal actions. It is hoped that the pace can be accelerated to prevent problematic teachers from continuing to stay on campus. 

教保員突然抓住男童的腳踝，一把讓他摔到地面上，甚至沒有停手，繼續抓著男童的右腳撞擊地面至少48次。這起2019年發生的不當管教，全是因為另外一名男童嘴巴有傷口，就醫後才發現，原來在學校遭到暴力對待。

受害男童阿嬤表示：「醫生說，這不是腸病毒啊，這個是外來的力量啊，因為他還有流血，又有刮痕。」

受害男童說出老師把玩具塞到他的嘴巴裡才會流血，家長憤而提告，一審判教保員六個月有期徒刑，家長也指控，新竹縣教育局有行政調查疏失。

被害男童家屬委任律師郭明翰質疑：「為什麼會出現說，在行政調查的部分是沒有疏失，沒有發現問題，可是在法院卻判決有罪的情形。我們認為這個部分的話，可能行政方面要再改進。」

新竹縣教育局回應，事件在2019年便已針對園所裁罰，今年得知判決結果確定後，五月份也已在網站登該載該名教保員為不適任人員，並公布姓名，也呼籲希望中央法規能夠更完善。

新竹縣教育局副局長蔡淑貞回應：「中央相關司法單位判刑確定的人員，都是經過公告，並沒有直接通知我們。相關的地方機關，我們希望能夠建立一個系統，讓我們在最即時的時間內，能夠做即時的處理。」

新竹教育局表示，中央已經在研擬訂定相關教保人員違法事件調查流程處理的辦法規定，只盼腳步能再加快，避免有問題的教保員仍繼續留在校園中。