Hitting children at nurseries jeopardises their growth, causes trauma

KOTA KINABALU - The act of hitting a child at the nursery which was clearly seen in a video that went viral recently will seriously affect the child's growth and inflict trauma.

Kota Kinabalu Warisan division secretary Loi Kok Liang said following the incident, he urged related departments to take stern action against nursery and kindergarten operators who failed to practise professionalism.

"Relevant departments should take stern action to control and ensure the professionalism of nursery or kindergarten operators including their employees, to avoid similar incidents from happening again.

"Those who committed any offences should also be severely punished. After all, as children are abused and beaten, it will not only cause physical effects, but also psychological trauma besides seriously affecting their growth," he told Sinar Harian, today.

He also said that although the teachers involved claimed that the child was suffering from mild hyperactivity, the act of hitting was extremely inappropriate.

"No matter how naughty the children are, they are not allowed to use violence, not to mention that the children in the video were not seen behaving unnecessarily.

"When I saw the surveilance video that went viral, I couldn't help but imagine if the child in the video was my own son, from the first kick to the last blow on his head.

"Look at how panicked and helpless the child was. I believe and can feel the anger of the abused child's parents," he said.

Hence, he hoped that nurseries or kindergartens will take full responsibility in protecting children sent to their premises.

"Today's society is so stressed and busy. As parents, they work hard for their children's needs and entrust their children to kindergarten operators.

"So kindergartens are expected to take full responsibility to protect and educate their children," he said.

Loi said he trusted the police to conduct investigations so that the victim in the incident would get justice.

It was reported that a surveillance video showing a child at a nursery being kicked, pulled by the hair, pushed and repeatedly being hit on the head went viral on social media.

The 12-second video was shown to the child's parents and the mother was reported to have wailed watching her child being abused in such a way.