The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed on third reading a series of amendments declaring zero tolerance for inappropriate treatment of children, and clarifying prohibited behavior by preschool educators.
The Executive Yuan had proposed the amendments to the Early Childhood Education and Care Act (幼兒教育及照顧法) and the Statute for Preschool Educators (教保服務人員條例) to improve the “educare” system, or education and care services.
Passing the drafts is in line with the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
About 20 articles in the Statute for Preschool Educators have been amended in accordance with the Childhood Education and Care Act so that the two laws have coordinated regulations and penalties.
The two laws stipulate that preschool educators are prohibited from physically and mentally abusing, corporally punishing, bullying, sexually harassing, enforcing improper discipline, inflicting other forms of physical or mental violence, or mistreating young children.
If the violation is deemed to be sufficiently serious, offenders would face a fine of NT$60,000 to NT$600,000, and their names and the institutions they work at would be made public, the acts say.
The amended Statute for Preschool Educators stipulates that if preschool educators are aware of anyone contravening the regulation, they should report to the competent authority of the municipality within 24 hours.
It also stipulates that relevant units should report to a designated committee within two working days after receiving a report about someone breaching the prohibitions for the committee to conduct an investigation.
The unit should then notify the perpetrator and the child’s legal representative with a written report that includes the results of the investigation, it says, adding that cases involving teachers at public schools’ affiliated preschools can be handled with the Teachers’ Act (教師法) if applicable.
Furthermore, preschool educators are require to take at least 18 hours of professional educare competence training every year, the implementing regulations of which shall be established by the central competent authority.
New preschool educators are required to complete at least eight hours of basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation training within two years before their employment or three months after beginning their position, it says.
Every two years after they begin their position, preschool educators should take at least three hours of courses related to gender equality and labor rights, at least eight hours of basic life-saving skills training, at least three hours of courses related to safety education and at least one emergency rescue situation exercise, it adds.
Those who do not would be ordered to take corrective actions by a specified date, and failing to do so would face a fine of NT$1,000 to NT$6,000 per offense, it says.
Different punishment applies if the breach can be attributed to the educare institutions.
Institutions that commit serious violations or fail to take corrective actions after three fines might be required to reduce the number of children enrolled, suspend enrollment for six months to one year, suspend operations for one to three years, or have their establishment registration revoked.
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