Last week a kindergarten teacher burnt seven children with a hot, electric iron. The woman, Ms. Yi, has been detained by the police for 10 days, fined 500 yuan ($75) and fired from her job in Xinghua, located half way between Yangzhou and Yancheng in Jiangsu province.
Statements from a press conference organized by the city government on Saturday reveal the 30-year-old teacher claimed to not know the iron was still hot when she used it to discipline the children.
The seven children were all burned on the face, each suffering deep second-degree burns. A doctor stated it will take about three weeks for the outer skin to heal and an additional six to 24 months for the scars to disappear. The possibility of permanent scarring also remains.
The police said they believe Ms. Yi did not foresee the consequences of her actions; before the incident the teacher had always treated children well. As a result, the mother of Wang Junhua, one of the injured, has already forgiven her. Reportedly, Ms. Yi now very deeply regrets her actions.
60 percent of the 1,600 kindergarten teachers in Xinghua, including Ms. Yi, do not have a preschool teaching certificate.
