An 18-month-old child has been allegedly beaten and abused by the owner of a kindergarten in Durres.
The child returned from her second day at the kindergarten with sings of violence on her as well as being scared and out of breath. Her mother said she struggles to sleep at night and had marks on her throat.
The case was reported to the police and the owner of the kindergarten was arrested for assaulting the baby.
News24 asked the Municipality of Durres about the control they have over private institutions. They said that they don’t have any jurisdiction over what happens in private kindergartens and nurseries.
Private nurseries are licensed by the Ministry of Education and are under their jurisdiction.
There have previously been calls to install cameras inside nurseries and kindergartens but nothing further has happened.
Two years ago, a three-year-old child accused the Director of a Tirana kindergarten of using physical and emotional violence against him. He came home with bruises on his arm, in a fearful state and said he had been abused and locked in the cupboard under the kindergarten stairs.
Staff from the kindergarten confirmed it was the director and that she had threatened them all into silence, on a recording heard by Exit.
Despite the evidence, the woman who is a Socialist Party vote collector and boasted of “being protected” and that she would “never go to court” for it, is still in her job. She had hired a “fixer” to make the situation go away which allegedly included a payment to the prosecutor who was the husband of one of the policemen involved in her case.
