3 year old dies in Chinese nursery school while teacher engrossed on phone

A sudden death of a Chinese three year old girl at a nursery school has raised questions about the teacher’s supervision after CCTV footage showed the girl having two seizures while the teacher was focused on her phone. The girl’s family blames her neglect for the tragedy.

Local media reports the father of the deceased child filed a complaint, stating he took his daughter to the nursery on the morning of May 30, in good health. However, at around 1.15pm, he received a call from the nursery informing him that his daughter had died. The disbelieving father rushed to the school and, upon receiving confirmation of her death, requested to immediately review the CCTV footage. The footage shows the girl suffered her first seizure around 11.20am, followed by a more severe one at 12.50pm. But by the time the teacher noticed, it was too late.

The father expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that his daughter began to convulse suddenly before collapsing. However, at that moment, the teacher was seemingly preoccupied with her mobile phone screen, not noticing the child’s atypical behaviour.

Guantu District Education and Sports Bureau officials stated that local police are involved in the investigation. The responsible parties are currently negotiating between the school and the deceased child’s family. The cause of the girl’s death is also being investigated.

Child neglect is a problem at schools across the globe.

In September last year, a three year old girl died after being left inside a kindergarten van for around five hours in Makinohara, Shizuoka prefecture, in Japan. Police searched Kawasaki Kindergarten and the director and principal’s homes, who were arrested under suspicion of professional negligence causing death. Police said the kindergarten staff didn’t check the van properly and locked it with Kawamoto still inside. She was not found until staff opened the van to take the children home at the end of the day.