Children stabbed at a Chinese daycare center: one relatively severely injured

On Monday, August 29, a knife attack, with eight children stabbed, occurred at a daycare center for migrants in suburban Minhang district of Shanghai.

The children were taken to the hospital for medical care. One was relatively severely injured and four had mild wounds, but none of the children suffered life-threatening injuries, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The kids  were  slashed by a woman who works at that daycare center, possibly a teacher. She was arrested and the police began the investigation, said Zhuang Liqiang of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau. He added no further details.

Apparentely the woman had a “psychotic episode”, said Xinhua News Agency and local reports. “The teacher is bad” said the mother of a child who was attacked.

Lots of adults and children died or were hurt in recent years in Chinese schools, nurseries and other public places. This led to an increasing security in schools and nurseries.

The  Minhang district of Shanghai has a lot of migrant workers. The children of migrant workers are not usually qualified to attend city public schools and their parents cannot afford to pay the fees for private facilities. There are ten millions of people who work in the cities, far from their rural homes. Their children remain unsupervised or in grandparents care.

Because of safety concerns there were local moves that closed the informal schools and nurseries. Without these facilities to cater for migrant families, the migrant persons have a bigger problem with children care.

Shanghai’s Dragon TV showed children’s clothing at the hospital covered with blood. Doctors said they had to cut off the clothes quickly to treat the children’s injuries.