ĐÀ NẴNG — The central city’s People’s Committee has closed a private kindergarten in Thanh Khê District for further investigation into potential violations, after a video clip was posted on Monday showing aggressive behaviour from staff.

The city asked the departments of education and training and public security, as well as relevant agencies to open a wide investigation, and curb any aggressive or ill-mannered behaviour committed by nurses in the kindergarten.

During the 10-minute video clip, which was recorded by a nursemaid (the source did not reveal his/her name), a baby-sitter is seen threatening and striking a child during lunchtime.

The woman, who was later identified as Đinh Thị Thu Hồng, manager of the kindergarten on Thái Thị Bôi Street, hit and slapped the child’s mouth, while she was feeding the child. The child is later seen lying motionless on the floor. The nurse also struck a second child during the lunch break.

Thạc Gián Ward’s public security officials, alongside an inspection team of the education and training department, demanded the manager of the kindergarten cease working on Monday to identify what happened on the clip.

The kindergarten, certified in 2013, nurtures 14 children, of which three are aged between six months to one year old, and 11 are aged from 13 to 36 months.

All the children left the kindergarten after lunch and were sent to hospital for health examinations.

The city’s public security department has officially begun an investigation into the violations at the kindergarten, and claimed that it’s the first recorded serious violation on children at a kindergarten in the city.

Đà Nẵng plans to implement a pilot project on providing care for babies from six to 18 months at 21 public kindergartens – the first of its kind in central Việt Nam – later this year.

According to the education and training department, Đà Nẵng has 205 kindergartens, of which 136 are private schools. Most only accept three-year-olds due to limited nursery services for new-born babies.

In a survey released by the city, 34 per cent of those surveyed said teachers often punished them by slapping their face and wrist, while 33 per cent were hit with objects.

At least 260 school-girls said they were victims of physical violence at school, according to deputy director of the city’s education and training department, Nguyễn Minh Hùng.

Fifty per cent of students kept silent about violations at school and in society. — VNS