Parents wait outside a daycare center run by pre-school operator RYB Education Inc after child abuse occurred in the center in November, 2017. Photo: IC

A number of cities across China have launched an online search system for criminals charged with child endangerment, allowing employers to screen candidates during the recruitment process. 

The second trial of the RYB Education New World Kindergarten case, in which some pre-schoolers at the kindergarten in Chaoyang district in Beijing were abused, was completed on June 11. The abuser was sentenced to one and a half years in jail and banned from working in nursery education for the next five years, according to media reports.

Following concern in the wake of several child abuse cases, cities in China, such as Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, Cixi, East China's Zhejiang Province and Huai'an, East China's Jiangsu Province, have established information registration databases and vocational ban systems.

For instance, the Guangzhou system is linked up to educational departments, building up a mandatory criminal record inquiry mechanism for personnel recruitment in special industries or positions related to children's development. Covering all crimes against minors in the past three years, the system was put into practice in the People's Procuratorate of Guangzhou on May 30.

The move aims to help improve the accuracy and effectiveness of on-the-job reviews and evaluations of the relevant personnel. Candidates with a history of crimes against minors will be blocked from job opportunities, Ou Mingyu, Procurator General of Guangzhou People's Procuratorate, said at a press conference. 

In 2018, the number of sexual assault cases against minors processed by Guangzhou People's Procuratorate accounted for 45.6 percent of all crimes against minors. Almost 10 percent of the sexual assault cases were committed by staff in the field of education, including teachers, security guards, and faculty members at schools, thepaper.cn reported. 

Since 2018, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) has approved the arrests of 54,200 suspects against minors and prosecuted 67,600, Shi Weizhong, chief of the department for juvenile prosecution under the SPP, said at a press conference on May 27. 

However, a law expert gives different views. "The essence of the law lies in balancing the interests of all parties. From the perspective of rational people, sharing information from previous records goes way beyond that balance, causing bias," Kong Qingjiang, dean of the School of International Law at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times on Monday, adding he would propose that the practice be corrected.

Global Times