Two more cases of suspected child abuse were made public yesterday, as prosecutors began separate investigations into a kindergarten teacher in New Taipei City and a father who is alleged to have beaten his ex-wife and children.
A mother surnamed Chen (陳) reported to police that her three-year-old son returned home from kindergarten last week with bruises and swelling on his cheeks and neck.
She said that an administrator surnamed Liao (廖) told her that the boy had sustained the injuries while fighting with other children at the kindergarten.
Chen apologized to the school official for her son’s behavior, but became suspicious after talking with her son and other staff members.
At first refusing, the staff eventually relented and showed Chen footage from the kindergarten’s surveillance cameras, which reportedly showed a female teacher punishing the woman’s son by pinching his cheeks and slapping his face.
Chen found that the teacher, who had no qualifications or certifications as a kindergarten teacher, was a Chinese citizen married to a Taiwanese and had reportedly been hired illegally.
Chen said she plans to file a lawsuit and took her son to a hospital to have his injuries examined.
Yesterday, New Taipei City Education Department inspectors assessed the kindergarten and fined it NT$210,000 for breaches of the Early Childhood Education and Care Act (幼兒教育及照顧法), including not reporting physical abuse of a child and hiring unqualified staff.
Separately yesterday, Tainan police said that a complaint was filed against a man surnamed Hsieh (謝), who reportedly had beaten his ex-wife and children, resulting in broken ribs and other injuries.
Hsieh was summoned for questioning, they said, adding that his girlfriend, surnamed Yang (楊), had also filed a complaint that Hsieh had beaten her.
Police records showed that Hsieh had been previously accused of domestic abuse — an ex-wife surnamed Tsai (蔡) had reported that Hsieh would hit her and her son (aged six) and daughter (aged two) when he was angry.
Hsieh allegedly burned the children’s skin with cigarettes and beat them, breaking their ribs, and acted violently toward Tsai, including cutting her face with machine tools.
Tainan Bureau of Social Welfare officials said that they had made 30 visits to Tsai, providing counseling and helping her get a restraining order against Hsieh to protect her and the children.
The complaint filed by Yang is a new case, they said, adding that they would help her file for a restraining order.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS