An unlicensed kindergarten has been shut down by authorities after surveillance footage emerged of a teacher repeatedly slapping children in her class.
According to parents of students at Blue Sky Mengtesuoli Kindergarten in Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province, Li Zhuqing had been caught on camera several times since September abusing her young students.
The kindergarten was closed last week and all 43 students have been sent to other preschools nearby, Tian Xiaozhen, director of preschool education at Taiyuan education bureau, said on Tuesday.
Metro 110, a news show on Shanxi Science and Education Television Station, recently aired 30 minutes of footage recorded during a class at the school on Oct 15.
It showed a female teacher slapping three children, including a 5-year-old girl who was struck almost 70 times.
Seven children were in the class at the time, and the footage appears to show the student being punished for failing to calculate 10 plus 1.
The physical attack caused injuries to the girl's eyes, the father of the 5-year-old, surnamed Han, told Metro 110.
"The teacher slapped my child in the face and kicked her twice in the bottom," Han said, adding that he had seen similar footage dating back to September.
Li Chunhua, the preschool's owner, did not answer her cellphone on Tuesday.
However, in a text message reply to China Daily, she said the school had sacked the teacher after parents lodged a complaint on Oct 16.
"Police have taken her (Li Zhuqing) into custody and the case is under investigation," she wrote, adding that the 5-year-old girl's father has demanded 500,000 yuan ($79,980) in compensation.
Xinhua News Agency also reported on Tuesday that the teacher had been detained. A spokeswoman for Taiyuan public security bureau declined to comment when contacted by China Daily.
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