A teacher covers a child with a quilt as children take an afternoon nap at a kindergarden in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province September 14, 2011.
A teacher covers a child with a quilt as children take an afternoon nap at a kindergarden in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province September 14, 2011. Reuters/Stringer

Kindergarten students in China were feared to have been drugged, according to their parents. A Beijing nursery has been accused of injecting and feeding drugs to toddlers after parents found needle marks on at least eight children.

A group of parents protested against the school in the eastern suburb of Guanzhuang on Thursday. One mother told local news publication Caixin that she had found needle marks on her daughter’s arms, buttocks and foreheads. Other parents also discovered similar marks on their children. It is alleged that the students were injected by teachers as a way to discipline them.

The parents also said that the teachers gave their children unknown “white tablets and a brown syrup.” Police have confirmed through medical examination that the children’s wounds were caused by needles. However, they are still looking into the substance allegedly given to the children.

Students in two classes, which have 25 children aged 2 to 6 years old, were reportedly also forced to undress and were locked up. Three teachers at the school have already been suspended.

“Disobedient students were also forced to stand naked or were locked up in a dark room at the kindergarten,” a parent told the publication. The Beijing Municipal Commission of Education said that a “comprehensive security check” was being conducted in all schools in Beijing.

The school in question is run by RYB Education Institution, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in September. RYB has issued a statement on Thursday regarding the issue, saying in Chinese (as translated by the BBC), “We deeply apologise for this matter, which has brought severe disquiet to parents and society.

“If any wrongdoing is found, we will not shake off the responsibility. And we have also reported to the police some false accusations against us.”

This isn’t the first time an RYB Education kindergarten has been accused of student abused. In October 2016, four teachers at another school in Siping were jailed for 30 to 34 months over “mistreatment of students” after needle marks were also found on some students.

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