The world may not be such a happy place, but a few years ago, schools were considered to be safe havens for children. It was a place where they not just learnt their lessons and about life in general, they made friends and enjoyed their childhood under the watchful eyes of the teachers. However, things aren't the same anymore and there seem to be some schools in the world, where a child is anything but safe.
One such school seems to be in Beijing, China, where kindergarten children aged between two and six are routinely molested, jabbed with needles, fed sleeping pills and forced to stand naked in a dark room. The RYB Education New World nursery is an upmarket private kindergarten located in the central district of Beijing and the school is even listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
A mother told the police that about eight parents had complained that their toddlers were drugged and molested at the school. She told reporters that her three-year-old daughter told her that she and a few other kids were injected with a brown liquid by the teacher, who then asked them to strip before being "examined" by a naked man, reported CNN.
"My child said the teacher told them it was a secret and they were not supposed to tell anyone else including parents," the mother explained. "She now bursts into screaming at night, saying: 'I'm not sick, why do I have to get a shot?'"
"Disobedient students were also forced to stand naked or were locked up in a dark room at the kindergarten," another parent told the Global Times.
After the news broke, people in China lashed out at the school and demanded action against it. In tune, authorities have started investigating the matter and have also seized surveillance footages.
"We will thoroughly investigate any incident and punish those involved regardless of where the incident takes place...We are committed to preventing child abuse cases from happening," the Beijing Municipal Education Commission said in a statement on Friday.
Meanwhile, RYB Education, which runs the chain of schools, has apologised to the parents and said that it has a "zero tolerance" policy on such matters. Though it said that it has suspended several teachers and would work with the children and parents to sort out the issues soon, it also accused "some people" of making false allegations against the institution and framing it.
"We have provided the relevant surveillance videos and equipment to the police," it said. "Before a clear conclusion can be drawn, our priority is to help the students and their parents emotionally, and try to minimize the impact of the incident on the children."
