Kindergarten questioned about abuse allegation

Golden Cradle Education and Technology Group, the owner of a kindergarten in Beijing where staff members were accused in a WeChat post of assaulting children, released a statement on Tuesday pledging to assist investigators.

It said it was looking into the actions of two teachers.

On Monday, teachers at the kindergarten in Yizhuang, Beijing's economic and technological development area, were accused in a WeChat post of abusing children.

The statement from Golden Cradle said the parents asked the kindergarten for an explanation, but it answered that there was no surveillance camera in the kindergarten to provide proof.

Golden Cradle group has more than 700 kindergartens and schools nationwide.

In the statement, Golden Cradle apologized for causing concern and said a task force has been formed within the group to conduct checks to find any problems that may exist.

"Whatever the result of the investigation, we promise that we will not tolerate any immoral deeds of any teacher in the kindergarten. We will shoulder our responsibility and provide updates about the incident to the public in a timely manner," it said.

This is not the first incident of child abuse that has attracted widespread attention. A few days ago, teachers at a day care center in Shanghai, set up by online travel agency Ctrip for the children of its staff members, were accused of treating children roughly and feeding them spicy mustard.

That incident caused a public outcry online. The teachers suspected of the abuse were detained, and two senior Ctrip managers involved in the incident were suspended.

On Wednesday, the Shanghai Women's Federation issued a report on the incident. Ji Daqing, president of Modern Family, a magazine under the supervision of the federation, was dismissed from his post for dereliction of duty. The magazine was the operator of the day care center. The center will also be closed, the federation said.