VIDEO: Children are Beaten at 'Our Yard' Kindergarten; Kindergarten Informs Law Enforcement; Recording

Parents are raising the alarm that children are subjected to violence at the private kindergarten 'Our Yard'. One of the kindergarten's staff has sent a nearly four-hour recording to all parents, in which a caregiver is heard beating children and threatening that if they do not behave well, they will be locked in a dark room. A parent, who preferred to remain anonymous, informed us that this morning, one of the group’s parents opened a separate group chat on Viber, which included all parents, to whom the recording was sent. This was reported by Onnet.am.

The worker who made this recording provided it to the parent under a promise of anonymity, stating that their name should not be disclosed, otherwise they could face issues with management. According to our source, two parents are currently at the police station. The caregiver who allegedly committed the violence works with very young children, accepting kids starting from 40 days old. The caregiver's name is Gayane, but we could not confirm the surname.

The kindergarten has three branches in the city. The incident occurred at the Zeytun branch (K. Ulnec, Kamaraq Passage 15). The branch's director is not answering phone calls.

The recording includes excerpts, and the complete recording lasts 4 hours. Auroranews managed to contact Ani Hayrapetyan, the director of one of the kindergarten's branches, who confirmed that a similar incident was recorded at the Zeytun branch, where a caregiver was looking after 4-5 toddlers aged around 1-2 years.

According to the director, the caregiver attempted to frighten a child into sleeping, which was taken by the parent as violence. Hayrapetyan stated that the parent had discreetly placed a recording device among the child’s belongings to capture what was happening during the day at the kindergarten. However, the director also mentioned that everything still needs to be clarified.

“We ourselves have contacted law enforcement to clarify the real situation, because these are not final details, and if an incident indeed occurred, then the caregiver should be held accountable,” emphasized Hayrapetyan.

Auroranews also clarified that the Ministry of Education and Science has not issued a license for any preschool education under this name. Moreover, the list of licensed non-state preschool educational institutions is published on the ministry's official website. Our investigation also indicates that there is no educational institution by this name in the list.

It should also be noted that private kindergartens are not under the supervision of the Yerevan City Hall.