MORE than 1,000 children were found to have been physically abused last year, says Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
She said of the number, 679 cases involved male children and 622 victims were female.
The Women, Family and Community Development Minister, however, did not provide further details on the physical abuse cases involving a total of 1,301 children nationwide.
On a separate matter, Nancy said that over 300 child abuse cases happened at kindergartens and daycare centres over the past two years.
“There were a total of 336 abuse cases between 2021 and 2022.
“The cases happened at both registered and non-registered kindergartens and daycare centres,” she said in reply to a supplementary question raised by Salamiah Mohd Nor (PN-Temerloh).
Salamiah wanted to know the number of abuse cases involving children in kindergartens and daycare centres and what was being done to stop such incidents.
To a question by Datuk Seri Doris Sophia Brodi (GPS-Sri Aman) earlier, Nancy said several improvements were made to ensure children were better safeguarded while at kindergartens and daycare centres.
Among them, she said, was that child minders had to undergo 28 days’ training.
CCTVs must be installed to better monitor activities in these premises, Nancy added.
“Parents must also play their role and carry out physical checks on their children to see if there are any signs of abuse.
“They should not hesitate to call the Talian Kasih 15999 hotline and report if there are signs of abuse,” she said.
