Teacher caught pricking kids with needle

Surveillance footage at a private kindergarten in East China's Shandong province has shown a preschool teacher pricking children with a needle.

The footage, aired on a Jiangsu Television news program, showed the teacher pricking children's arms and legs during a class at the Haipei Kindergarten in Dongying.

It follows other cases of child abuse reported last month, with several children slapped in the face by a teacher in Shanxi province, a boy lifted by his ears by a teacher in Zhejiang province and a girl sexually molested by a guard in Guangdong province.

The Jiangsu TV report said children were punished by the teacher for various reasons, including eating too slowly, failing to solve math problems, and speaking without permission in class.

An official from the city's publicity department said on Wednesday the teacher has been detained by police.

Kindergarten head Wang Yanan said the teacher was employed in November 2011 after completing a two-month probationary period during which she had been kind to the children.

Wang apologized to the children's parents, saying she was responsible for failing to supervise the teacher.