Kindergarten head sacked after child abuse

HANGZHOU - The principal of a private kindergarten in East China's Zhejiang province has been removed from her post following a child abuse scandal.

The head, who has not been named, is a woman in her 30s, authorities confirmed on Saturday.

Authorities in Wenling city said they have transferred staff from other public kindergartens to the Blue Peacock Kindergarten to help it operate.

In this screenshot from micro-blogging website Sina Weibo, a teacher pulls up a boy by his ears at Lankongque Kindergarten in Wenling, Zhejiang province.

There was anger among the Chinese public after a picture posted on the Internet on Wednesday showed a teacher, a woman surnamed Yan, holding up a student by his ears.

The child was seen crying in pain. Yan, who was smiling in the picture, reportedly said she did it "just for fun".

Other photographs showing a child being placed upside-down in a rubbish bin and another child whose mouth was sealed with adhesive tape were also uploaded by Yan and another teacher.

Yan was detained on suspicion of provoking a disturbance, with the other teacher, who took the pictures, being placed under a seven-day administrative detention.

Local education authorities have ordered the kindergarten's teachers to apologize to the parents of all of the students in the class where the incident took place.

Psychologists have been arranged to talk to the children involved.

The scandal came just a few days after a female teacher in North China's Shanxi province reportedly slapped a five-year-old kindergarten girl in the face for more than 10 minutes.

Educators and experts said the spate of child abuse incidents underlined the insufficient funding, lax supervision in kindergartens as well as a lack of laws penalizing abusive practices.