TOKYO, May 13 (NNN-NHK) – More than 900 incidents of children being mistreated at nurseries across Japan, between Apr and Dec of 2022, were reported, according to a government survey released yesterday.
According to the survey, by the Children and Families Agency, 90 of those cases were assessed as abuse.
The survey, involving local governments, was conducted, following the high-profile case in Dec last year, resulting in the arrest of three nursery school teachers in Shizuoka Prefecture, for allegedly physically and verbally abusing infants in their care, repeatedly.
Among the allegations, the teachers were found to have held one-year-olds in their care upside down in the air by their feet, and threatened them with a knive, among other abusive acts.
The multiple cases of abuse at the nursery school may have come to light earlier, but the school made all of its staff sign a pledge to keep silent on the matter, local reports said.
The case in Shizuoka led to the uncovering of similar cases of mistreatment and abuse of nursery school-aged children in Japan.
As a measure to standardise cases considered abuse, the government produced a new criterion, as previously, each childcare facility had its own judgment of what constituted abuse.
According to the poll, by the Children and Families Agency, nationwide municipalities and prefectures were asked, if they had received reports from nurseries about incidents of infants being mistreated or abused by their teachers.
Of the 1,492 cases in which those asked, 914 confirmed incidents of children being mistreated, with 90 of these considered to be cases of child abuse with children being physically hurt.
The survey revealed a mere 9.5 percent of the municipal governments reported cases of child mistreatment to the prefectural governments, with 27.8 percent of cases regarding abuse reported.
In a separate nationwide poll, conducted by the agency, showing a huge disparity in what constitutes child mistreatment, 73 percent of childcare facilities said, there had been zero cases of children being mistreated.– NNN-NHK
