Teacher kissing kindergartner is not okay

A video clip showing a female kindergarten teacher engaging in a mouth-to-mouth kiss with a boy student recently went viral on social networking sites.

"What if I want to break the law? I am his girlfriend and can wait for 10 years," the teacher posted along with the video, triggering fierce discussions and an investigation in Tanghe county of Henan province.

On Saturday, the authorities announced that the teacher, surnamed Wen, had been expelled and the kindergarten where she worked shut down pending an investigation.

ThePaper.cn earlier quoted the local police as saying that action does not make her a suspect in molesting, and further probe is under way.

Kissing a kindergarten student mouth-to-mouth is not how an adult shows care, more so when a kid is unlikely to know what constitutes sexual abuse.

Therefore, most countries have strict laws governing teacher-student relationship. In Texas, United States, for instance, improper relationships between teachers and students are criminalized regardless of the student's age.

On social media, many demanded punishment for the teacher. "What she did was not a joke. She should be punished for the misdeed," someone commented. There are many other instances of adults touching a child "out of care", but it is not difficult to tell when such "care" amounts to molestation. Schools must educate teachers about the dos and don'ts when interacting with children.

Even more important, parents must teach their children, boys as well as girls, about good and bad touch and encourage them to speak out when they feel uncomfortable in somebody's company.