At the end of last year, a male teacher surnamed Chen at a private kindergarten in New Taipei City took advantage of his position to lure a 6-year-old girl to the toilet and sexually harassed and molested her. Afterwards, the girl shared the incident with her mother as a “secret” when she returned home and took a shower, which exposed the case. Since the victim remembered the details of the process very clearly and mentioned that the teacher asked her to see “below”, the male teacher was immediately fired after investigation and was legally banned from serving as a teacher for life and fined NT$600,000. The kindergarten was also fined NT$60,000 and stopped recruiting for one year for negligence in management. The victim’s parents also went to the police station to file a complaint for crimes such as obstruction of sexual autonomy, which is still under trial in the court. However, the teacher strongly denied this, emphasizing that the girl broke into the men’s toilet by herself and used a different toilet, insisting that there was no improper behavior and that administrative relief procedures had been initiated this year.
A few days ago, a netizen asked a question in a Facebook group related to children, and attached a screenshot of the fine amount of a certain private kindergarten in New Taipei City, asking: “The fine amount is particularly large, did something happen?” The netizen said that the kindergarten is very close to their home and will open for enrollment next year (2026), and wanted to understand the situation. Finally, he asked, “The teacher who was fined should have resigned, right?” The words revealed the concerns and doubts of parents.
Some people complained and pointed out that this is a quasi-public kindergarten, and the fine amount is the highest, but why there is no news, and they suspect that it was suppressed by some agency? It is also mentioned that the child abuse case is so serious now, but it is impossible to find out what happened, which is very puzzling.
The reporter searched the full name of the teacher surnamed Chen on the Internet and easily found a relevant “announcement” on the New Taipei City Early Childhood Education Resource Network. The content stated that “while serving in a private kindergarten in New Taipei City, the perpetrator Chen xx violated Article 33, Paragraph 1 of the Regulations on Teachers and Care Service Personnel and was fined NT$600,000 in accordance with the law, and his name and the name of the institution were announced.”
After a closer look, the date of the punishment was February 19 this year. Although the name of the teacher and the full name of the kindergarten were announced in the article, it is not clear from the penalty that what the teacher did was fined NT$600,000? The person in charge of the kindergarten was also fined NT$60,000 and stopped recruiting for one year.
Liao Yikun, the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party caucus in the New Taipei City Council and a city councilor, revealed that at the end of last year, a male teacher in the kindergarten was suspected of sexually harassing a 6-year-old girl in the toilet in the kindergarten, causing physical and mental trauma to the child. The parents were furious and went to the police station to file a complaint. The teacher was immediately fired by the kindergarten. He believed that there should be no pressure from other agencies to conceal the incident, but to protect the victim and her related personal information, they had to keep a low profile.
It is understood that the key to the conviction of the case is that the girl can clearly state the time and place of sexual harassment, pointing out that she was in the same toilet, and can also restore the conversation between the teacher and the student at that time, saying that the male teacher took her to the toilet and showed her his private parts. However, the accused male teacher strongly denied this, emphasizing that it was the girl who broke into the men’s toilet by herself and the two used different toilets. He insisted that there was no improper behavior and that administrative relief procedures have been initiated.
The New Taipei City Education Bureau said that in December last year, it received a report from parents that a private kindergarten was suspected of mistreatment of children. It immediately sent personnel to the kindergarten for inspection and launched an investigation in accordance with the “Regulations on Investigation and Handling of Illegal Incidents of Education and Care Service Personnel”. The investigation of the case has been completed and the case has been reviewed and confirmed by the Committee for Identification of Inappropriate Personnel of Education and Care Service Institutions. It is a “serious mistreatment case”. The perpetrator has been ruled to be banned from serving as an education and care service personnel for life and has been fined a maximum of NT$600,000 in accordance with the “Early Childhood Education and Care Act”. The name of the kindergarten and the perpetrator has been announced in accordance with the law.
The Education Bureau said that at the same time, in response to the obvious dereliction of duty of the kindergarten, the person in charge of the kindergarten was fined a maximum of NT$60,000 in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and the enrollment was suspended for one year to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
The New Taipei City police also confirmed that they had indeed received a complaint from the girl’s parents for crimes such as obstruction of sexual autonomy and sexual harassment, and also summoned a male teacher named Chen to explain. The prosecution has filed a lawsuit and the case is currently under trial in court.
