A female teacher at a kindergarten in Jinan, East China's Shandong province, was detained Friday on suspicion of physically abusing a 4-year-old boy who suffered severe skin burns from boiled water, local police told thepaper.cn.

The teacher, who was identified by her surname, Yu, dragged the boy into the kindergarten's boiler room on March 23 and scolded him. The boy was later found suffering from hot water burns. How the boy was injured is still under investigation, according to the news website's report.

The teacher is now being detained on a charge of child abuse.

The Jinan education authority has been paying close attention to the case and is conducting kindergarten teachers' ethics and safety inspections in the district.