Former Kinderland Sunshine Place preschool teacher given conditional warning for pushing child; operator fined S$5,000

SINGAPORE: A former educator at Kinderland @ Sunshine Place has been given a 12-month conditional warning by the police following investigations into a video that showed her pushing a child. 

Kinderland was fined S$5,000 for the incident at the Sunshine Place branch, which is in Choa Chu Kang. Its licence tenure has also been shortened from 36 to six months, said the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) on Tuesday (Feb 20). 

In response to CNA's queries, the police said that the conditional warning was given to the woman on Dec 18, 2023 for the offence of using criminal force against a person under 14. This was issued in consultation with the Attorney-General's Chambers.

The teacher, previously identified as educator C by Kinderland, was seen "forcefully pushing" a three-year-old child in April 2022. 

Investigations were launched after footage of the incident surfaced in August 2023 and she was suspended by the school and arrested.

This incident followed a separate case where another teacher allegedly ill-treated children at Kinderland’s Woodlands Mart preschool. 

The 33-year-old woman was arrested and later charged with one count of ill-treament of a child or young person. The court case is ongoing. 

Kinderland was fined S$5,000 in September last year for the case at Woodlands Mart. Its licence tenure was also shortened to six months.

ECDA has also rejected Kinderland's recent application to add a new centre to the Partner Operator Scheme. The scheme supports appointed centres to improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of childcare and infant care services.

In a press release on Tuesday, Kinderland said it "wholeheartedly apologises to the affected families over the lapses that took place which led to the incidents at the two affected centres".

"As a longstanding provider of early childhood education for over four decades and as responsible stewards of the community, we also regret the collective concern this episode has raised among parents and the general public."

CHILD MISMANAGEMENT INCIDENTS

ECDA said that it has reviewed the report by an independent review committee commissioned by Kinderland to examine the "child mismanagement incidents" at two of its centres. 

Based on input from the report, ECDA assessed that Kinderland headquarters had failed to exercise effective oversight over its centres’ staff training and supervision.

The authority said it has since directed Kinderland headquarters to ensure all centres properly implement corrective actions.

To ensure that the corrective measures at the two Kinderland centres are sustained, ECDA said it will continue to limit their licence tenures to six months when the licences expire in March. 

Following the incidents last year, ECDA has been closely monitoring all Kinderland centres through more frequent unannounced checks on their classroom management practices.

"ECDA notes that immediate corrective actions have been implemented in all Kinderland centres following the incidents and will continue with stepped-up supervisory visits to ensure that Kinderland sustains these measures," said the authority.

ECDA said Kinderland has also implemented measures to address “system gaps” in staff training, supervision and execution of its whistleblowing policy across all its centres.

The authority said it will ensure that Kinderland HQ effectively implements these measures to enable adequate oversight of all its centres, a feedback loop to pinpoint gaps in processes and trigger timely intervention and rectification.

Kinderland should also implement close monitoring and tracking to ensure all staff have the knowledge and competency to keep children safe and minimise child mismanagement incidents.

MEASURES IMPLEMENTED

Following the incidents, Kinderland deployed staff from its headquarters to the two centres for six months. It also installed closed-circuit television cameras in both centres by Sep 4, 2023, and across all centres by November last year.

Centre leaders conduct "proactive monitoring" of CCTV footage every week and carry out twice-daily walkabouts in the centres.

Kinderland also improved its Child Management Monitoring System, which requires its centre leaders to submit a daily report on the centre's operations. Areas of concern should be flagged to the headquarters.

Refresher training was also conducted for all Kinderland staff between September and October last year to ensure that they "are clear of Kinderland’s code of conduct, use of appropriate child management strategies and reporting procedures for inappropriate practices", said ECDA.

The preschool's whistleblowing policy has also been tightened by "clearly indicating" the contact people its staff can report inappropriate practices to, while expanding the channels used for reporting. By the end of February, an online system will be implemented to capture and track reports.

Kinderland said it has offered counselling services to all families at the two centres.

It added: "The incidents from 2023 were a sobering reminder of the challenges that come with maintaining high standards of child management.

"With these enhancements, we want to assure parents and members of the public that proper child management measures have been put in place. We seek to forge ahead by working closely with the community in realising this effort."