Online anger at video of teachers at Cannan Kindergarten in Mong Kok throwing pupils’ bags
One-minute video attracts over 302,000 views on Facebook
Netizens are outraged over a viral video that shows teachers at a popular kindergarten chain carelessly throwing kids’ schoolbags around.
Cannan Kindergarten, which has 12 branches across Hong Kong, admitted the incident happened in one of its branches yesterday in a notice to parents. The kindergarten promised to “severely punish” the teachers involved.
In the one-minute video, which has attracted over 302,000 views and almost 1,000 comments on Facebook, two of three staff members were seen distributing schoolbags to around 10 children in a class. But instead of delivering the bags to the children, they threw the bags across to their desks, with some falling on the floor.
The children had to walk over to the bags and pick them up.
The introduction to the video says the incident happened at Cannan’s branch in Charming Garden, Mong Kok.
“People have to wonder whether the teachers used throwing to distribute other things,” the introduction reads. “This move can not only hurt the children, but influence them negatively as well!”
One Facebook user, Wayne Lam, commented: “Can we throw tuition fees to the floor and ask the teachers to pick it up?”
Another, Meko Pak, said: “It’s too much. It will make children think this is the right way to do things, and make them don’t (sic) know how to respect people and objects...”
But others said critics were overreacting and that the teachers were not going too far.
In the notice to parents yesterday, Cannan said the video showed what happended before classes, when teachers were helping the children organise their bags.
“We feel very shocked, angry and heartbroken, and extremely disagree with how the teachers in the video treated children and their work attitude,” the school said. “We will [severely punish] the teachers involved.”
The kindergarten apologised and assured parents that it had strict guidelines on childcare and would regularly assess teaching.
It added that it would review the work at each of its branches.
One parent, who called herself Mrs Cheung, said she was shocked by the video but believed it was an isolated incident.
Cheung, whose son is studying at Cannan’s Lam Tin branch, said: “Teachers [at Cannan] are already loaded with administrative work. I hope the school management won’t have an overkill and add extra burden to teachers, who are really devoted.”
An Education Bureau spokeswoman said the bureau had immediately contacted the kindergarten to find out about the issue. She said the bureau reminded schools to take proper action to protect pupils’ safety.
She said the bureau would keep contact with the kindergarten and provide help if needed.
Additional reporting by Ernest Kao
