The yogurt was found by the side of the road near the kindergarten

May 3, 2013 11:39 GMT  ·  By

Two children have died at a kindergarten in China, after ingesting rat poison planted by educators from a rival school.

The school girls from Lianghe village, Pingshan county, Hebei province died after eating yogurt laced with tetramine, found by the side of the road near the school by the girl's grandmother.

Two women have been arrested for killing the two girls. Shi Haixia, the owner of the rival kindergarten and Yang Wenming, who helped in executing the plan, confessed to using the poison as a means to increase attendance at their school.

Shi wanted to deter parents from enrolling their children in the kindergarten, and asked Yang to place the yoghurt with some schoolbooks alongside it, near the facility.

"Their intention was to damage the reputation of the rival kindergarten," China Daily informs.

The grandmother tasted the beverage when the girls complained about a bitter taste, and was herself hospitalized for several days.

One of the students, aged six, died almost instantly after drinking it, while her five-year-old sister spent a week in the hospital before passing away.

They showed symptoms, such as foaming at the mouth, immediately after digesting the poisoned yogurt.

"This is an extreme case showing the lack of supervision in preschool education," says East China Normal University professor Yuan Ailing.

"Though many departments have their responsibilities in the management of kindergartens, they didn't perform their coordinated supervision duties well," Ailing notes.

While a source in China's government has stated that they plan on increasing the level of security in kindergartens, asking them to check their food before serving it to students, Ailing argues that the measures should have a financial component.

"The local governments need to increase the financial support for kindergartens, and control the new private ones if the districts have enough kindergartens," she says.