Teachers, schools and the general public should pay more attention to signs of child abuse, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) and civic groups said yesterday.

“I was always the nosier kind of teacher and believed it is important to pay close attention to children’s emotions, because perhaps just a little more care could help protect a child from being abused the next day,” Pan said about his own experience as a teacher.

Teachers should actively engage children from high-risk families to help prevent tragedies, he said, adding that the ministry could create incentives for teachers to pay more attention to signs of abuse.

The National Federation of Teachers’ Unions, the National Parent Education Volunteer Association and the Jing Chuan Child Safety Foundation said that schools should take a more active approach.

Abuse often occurs in disfunctional families, federation president Chang Hsu-cheng (張旭政) said.

If schools were friendlier to young mothers, such as by offering childcare and education, perhaps some tragedies could be prevented, he said, referring to a case in which a one-year-old girl was allegedly beaten to death by her 17-year-old mother and two other relatives after spilling a glass of milk.

Most teachers would inform the authorities when they see clear signs of abuse, but due to conflicting views about how to raise children, some people might hesitate if they just see hand or finger marks on a child’s face, fearing they might offend parents, he said.

Schools should hold activities that condemn such violence and encourage children to express their experiences through writing and drawing so that they might reveal abuse, Chang said, adding that such activities could be incorporated into gender equality classes.

“Although teachers could help prevent child abuse by paying more attention, they might also abuse children,” association director-general Wu Fu-pin (吳福濱) said.

Mechanisms for teacher performance evaluations should be enhanced and legislation introduced to encourage parents’ participation in their children’s education, including by defining parents’ obligations toward their children’s education and instituting penalties for those who fail to meet them, he said.

Child abuse can be quickly observed by neighbors, foundation chief executive Lin Yue-chin (林月琴) said.

“The government should educate the public to help people better understand that children are a nation’s assets, not parents’ personal assets, so that people know that everyone is responsible for child protection,” she said.

The government should also review the social safety net, she said.

“In other countries, a social worker could spend an entire month working with one family, but in Taiwan each social worker is responsible for 25 to 35 families. A family is lucky to get one visit from a social worker each month-and-a-half,” she said.

It is also difficult to spot child abuse at home among young children, as 40 percent do not attend kindergartens, she said.

“To save children, government agencies must stop trying to shift the blame and begin collaborating with one another,” she added.

[Taipei Times, 2019-01-21]