'ECDA should have done better': Agency apologises for not getting Kinderland to remove teacher under investigation
The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has apologised for not getting the management of Kinderland Woodlands Mart to immediately remove their teacher who was under investigation for the ill-treatment of a child.
In their statement on Monday (Sept 4), ECDA CEO Tan Chee Wee said the agency has taken firm actions against the preschool and staff involved for the breach in regulations concerning child safety.
"However, ECDA should have done better," he said. "We apologise for not getting Kinderland to immediately remove the educator from her classroom role while investigations are ongoing. We will strengthen our protocols and training of our officers."
In their statement, ECDA also provided an update on their investigations into the incidents at two Kinderland centres.
The first incident came to light after videos of a teacher at Kinderland Woodlands Mart was caught on video forcing children to drink water and hitting another child on the buttocks with a book.
The second case involved another teacher working at Kinderland @ Sunshine Place in Choa Chu Kang, who was filmed hitting a child's head.
All Kinderland preschools to be closely monitored: ECDA
On Monday, ECDA said it instructed Kinderland headquarters to conduct an independent review of their child management practices in all their preschools.
It has also placed all preschools under Kinderland on close monitoring and will "conduct more frequent unannounced checks on their classroom management practices".
They added that the teacher involved in the Woodlands Mart incident has been issued a warning, and has been barred from working in the preschool sector. She is also currently under police investigation for offences under the Children & Young Persons Act.
ECDA's investigations also revealed that another teacher at the Woodlands Mart pre-school had used inappropriate methods to restrict the movement of a three-year old child under her charge on two occasions — where she pulled the child's shirt over the back of a chair, and secured him to a chair using straps from an infant chair.
ECDA has issued this teacher a warning, and has required her to be placed under close supervision for three months and attend refresher training on child management strategies.
As the centre's principal did not exercise adequate supervision over her staff, ECDA has also cancelled their approval for her to be deployed as a principal in a preschool.
With regard to the incident at the Choa Chu Kang kindergarten, ECDA said that their investigations are still ongoing. However, the kindergarten management has placed the teacher involved on leave of absence.
Proper whistleblower system needed: Ho Ching
Earlier on, Kinderland had released a statement on Aug 31 saying it would implement a no personal device policy to "safeguard" the children's privacy and prevent the misuse of photos and videos of the children after two teachers were caught on video abusing their students.
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Last Saturday, the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Ho Ching took to her personal Facebook page to contended that it was "seriously wrong" to institute a no personal device policy "at this time".
In her post, Ho questioned if the motivation behind kindergarten's move was to "cover up the embarrassment and prevent future incidents of video evidence of abuse".
"If so, that is absolutely the wrong approach," she wrote.
Instead of banning personal devices, Ho called for the institution of a proper whistleblower system and process.
She added that the teacher who filmed the videos was right to do so, especially as a "last resort" if the principal refuses to take feedback seriously.
"If the teacher felt that the bosses of the principal are equally reluctant to take the report of abuse seriously, the next level of action is to report to Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) as the regulatory agency, the police, and MOE and MSF.
"Only as the last resort should the videos be uploaded onto social media, and even then, all efforts should be taken to protect the identities of the children affected," said Ho.
In their statement today, ECDA said that all preschool staff are required to report suspected cases of child mismanagement to them.
And anyone with information on child mismanagement at preschools should contact ECDA at contact@ecda.gov.sg.
READ ALSO: Kinderland: Arrested teacher is Singaporean, 2nd teacher denied filming abuse but resigned
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