Parents withdraw their children from Kinderland preschool in Woodlands after videos of alleged abuse by teacher

SINGAPORE: Some parents have withdrawn their children from Kinderland Preschool @ Woodlands Mart after videos of a teacher allegedly abusing children there surfaced on social media. 

In two videos, the teacher can be seen handling children roughly as she tries to force them to drink water. 

One shows a child wailing loudly as she tries to hold their head back. Another shows the woman placing a girl on the floor and appearing to pour water into her mouth while they are lying down. 

In the third video, the teacher is seen shouting at a boy and hitting him multiple times with a book.

When CNA visited the school on Tuesday (Aug 29), three people, of whom two were wearing police lanyards, were let into the centre at around 12.20pm. They declined to comment when approached by the media. 

The 33-year-old teacher has been arrested, the police said later on Tuesday.

"TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE"

A father who on Tuesday morning spoke to CNA on the condition of anonymity said he has given a notice of withdrawal for his 10-month-old that morning. 

He said he was already not comfortable with the school based on his own experiences, like when his daughter contracted hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and he found out that other parents were not informed.

According to him, the principal told him that the school only needs to inform other parents when there are two cases of HFMD in the school, but he said the episode left him with a bad impression.

“The news about this case affirmed my suspicions,” he said. His child has been in the school for about seven months, and he believes the teacher in question was in charge of his child’s infant care class.

Ms Moon Tan, a mother of two, also told CNA on Tuesday that she has withdrawn her younger daughter from the school on Monday after she learnt about the incident. 

Ms Tan’s daughter, who was enrolled earlier this year and was in that teacher's class, is in one of the videos although she “was not being abused in the video”. 

But the 32-year-old recalled “a couple of times" her daughter "came out (of class) crying for no reason” when she picked her up, she said. She “firmly believes” her daughter had been abused too. 

She added that her daughter is unable to communicate yet so she wasn’t able to ask her what happened. 

While Ms Tan said she feels “this school is no longer safe”, her elder child will continue to go there as she is graduating in a few months. 

“It's just rage, it's totally unacceptable. Very heart pain to see those torture on small kids,” she told CNA about her reaction to the videos. 

When Ms Tan asked to withdraw her younger daughter from the school, they “immediately” sent her a withdrawal link for her to fill up a form, without asking further questions. 

She said that she did not receive a personal apology from the school and added that if not for the videos, parents might not have known about the incidents. 

Any incidents of other children who may have received similar treatment from the teacher were “not being brought up”.

She shared that other parents have also requested for an “immediate withdrawal” of their child from the school with “no waiting period”.

Another parent, Mr Fachruddin Dzaki, 45, agreed that what the teacher did is "not acceptable at all", but he intends to keep his son enrolled in the school.

"We understand that not all of them (are like that)," he said. "Most teachers are okay, but unluckily, this happened at my son's centre."

"Any workplace will have black sheep, but I feel sad for the parents of the children (who were allegedly abused)," Mr Dzaki told reporters. His two-year-old son has been attending Kinderland since he was a few months old.

"What we can do is be careful, be vigilant," he added.

LETTER BY SCHOOL ON PARENTS’ PORTAL

Earlier on Tuesday, the school posted a letter on the parents’ portal addressing the circulating videos. The letter, seen by CNA, was written by Ms Mahirah Yasid, the preschool principal.

It stated that the Early Childhood Development Agency and the police have stepped in to conduct their own investigations on the matter, and that the school has dismissed the teacher in question. 

She added that she and the teachers "remain committed to upholding this trust you have placed in us and we will continue to work together constructively for our children to grow holistically”. 

Ms Lini Chew, marketing manager for Kinderland, told the media that some parents have been "affected" by the news, but some have also been encouraging towards the teachers.

"They have always believed in our teachers and trusted our teachers a lot. In fact, some of them are actually writing in good notes to us to say that they have seen their children grow and ... develop well in the centre," she said.

Kinderland Singapore's most recent Facebook post dated Aug 21 drew a number of angry comments from people who had seen the videos. 

"We have received your feedback. At this time, we ask for privacy for the affected families," said Kinderland Singapore in a comment at about 7.10pm on Monday.

KINDERLAND TO IMPLEMENT NEW MEASURES

It emerged later on Tuesday that another preschool teacher from the Kinderland chain had been arrested for allegedly hitting a boy at a Choa Chu Kang branch.

In a statement late on Tuesday night, Kinderland said it will implement new measures to better address the welfare of children and teachers in both centres.

These include expanding the installation of CCTVs in all classrooms and children activity areas at the two centres.

Kinderland said currently, CCTVs are installed along the common corridors, entrance and exits of the centre, adding that cameras in classrooms "had always been a matter of concern with protecting the privacy of the children".

Kinderland also said that it has provided an additional point of contact for parents to directly contact the centres and Kinderland HQ.

"Kinderland will also be enhancing our current policy to manage the mental health of new and current teachers with weekly and monthly meet up sessions with the principal to have a better feel of issues on the ground," it added.

"Our teachers, principals and staff at Kinderland remain committed to upholding this trust you have placed in us and we will continue to work together constructively for our children to grow holistically."