PARENT TOLD “IT’S NOTHING”
Kinderland’s disciplinary inquiry also addressed the issues with Teacher A and counselled her, the statement said.
“Teacher A was remorseful and apologised for her behaviour those few times,” it added.
“Concurrently, the principal of Woodlands Mart and Teacher A reached out to the parents of the affected children to inform them and apologise for the rough-handling of their children. The principal also asked after the well-being of their children and their feelings towards school.”
All the parents of the three children in the videos said they “did not notice anything amiss nor any physical injuries”, and that their children were “behaving normally”, according to the statement.
Speaking to CNA on Tuesday, the mother of a child allegedly abused in the videos said the preschool was aware of the incident before the footage started circulating.
Ms Diyanah Mnoor, the mother of the two-year-old girl who was seen to have water poured into her mouth by the teacher, said she was informed of the incident about two weeks ago.
The principal, centre manager and Teacher A called her to the school to discuss what happened.
“They said … it was not so severe, (she) just forced (my daughter) to drink water. And someone caught her. They asked (her) to apologise to us; they said it’s not very bad,” the 31-year-old told CNA.
According to Ms Diyanah, the school said they would keep the teacher and “observe her”.
At the time, she said she “gave them the benefit of doubt”, adding that her daughter did not come home with bruises. “Maybe they were (just being) firm with the child. They said, it’s nothing.”
TEACHER FIRED “ONLY WHEN VIDEOS WENT VIRAL”
When a video of another child forced to drink water – with his head held back – started circulating online on Monday, Ms Diyanah said the school told her what her daughter went through “isn’t as bad as this”.
Shortly after, the video showing her daughter was posted online, she recalled.
“Straightaway I went down to the school. I also called up some of the other parents in the class. I spoke to the centre manager; they said the teacher is remorseful. I said this isn’t being remorseful. Once is fine but it happened to a couple of children,” she told CNA.
Ms Diyanah said she was repeatedly told by the school that the teacher was sorry.
“But if the video didn’t leak, she would still be there,” she added. “They dismissed her only when the videos went viral … This is just what we saw on video; we don’t know what else could have happened.”
Kinderland’s statement said that “upon completing the disciplinary inquiry”, its headquarters requested for Teacher A to be dismissed on Monday.
In a letter posted on a parents’ portal on Tuesday morning, the principal Ms Mahirah said the school had “reached out to the parents of the affected children and apologised deeply to the parents and children”.
Some parents said on Tuesday that they have since withdrawn their children from the centre.
Kinderland has received six requests for withdrawals from its Woodlands Mart and Choa Chu Kang centres, its statement said. There are 200 children currently enrolled at the two centres.
Ms Diyanah’s daughter, who has been in the school since she was four months old, will remain at home for the time being. She does not plan to withdraw her child yet as “it’s very hard for us to withdraw and just find another school”.
“Nowadays childcare there’s a long waiting list. It’s a lose-lose situation. (But) if we continue to put our kids there, we’ll be very insecure,” she said.
“We trusted the teachers. We had a good relationship; we trusted them for years. We were totally blindsided by the situation.”
In its statement, Kinderland said two of the affected children were “doing well”. The mother of the third child posted on social media that her daughter “woke up screaming last night, which she attributes to the incident”, the statement noted.
“ISOLATED AND RARE INCIDENTS DO HAPPEN”
In a similar case that surfaced just a day after the initial three videos began circulating online, a 48-year-old teacher from the Kinderland preschool at Sunshine Place in Choa Chu Kang was arrested following a clip that showed her allegedly hitting a child.
The teacher is seen forcefully handing a water bottle to a boy before smacking him on the head several times and pushing him away.
Kinderland said in its statement that the teacher has been suspended. “The principal of the centre has likewise reached out to the parents of the boy and offered our apologies.”
The preschool chain said: “While isolated and rare incidents do happen, Kinderland has taken, and will continue to take, a proactive stance in addressing issues that arise and will continue to uphold a zero-tolerance policy of no abuse to anyone, child or adult.
“We would also like to remind the public that the actions of one teacher do not reflect the attitudes or actions of the other hundreds of teachers in Kinderland,” it added.
“Our teachers deserve the respect and appreciation for the good work they do every day for our children, and it would be appreciated that they do not become targets for slurs or negative comments.”
Source: CNA
