Sengkang Green bullying case: People dissect MOE's statement & ask what more can be done
Reactions.
The latest bullying case at Sengkang Green Primary School has sparked some conversation on the severity of bullying in Singapore.
The Ministry of Education (MOE)
released its statement on the events and the timeline of the whole incident, which started at the end of April 2025 when the victim first reported the incident to her teacher.
Since then, numerous people have taken a look at the statement and timeline, questioning what more could have been done by the teachers and school and if the case could have been handled better.
It has also led to discussions on teachers' roles when handling bullying cases.
The duty of the teacher
One parent took to the Facebook group Singapore Primary School Parents to ask how teachers can be equipped with "the power to mete out harsher punishments in school", which would serve as a form of deterrence.
The parent also asked if teachers can be trusted to handle disciplinary incidents or if they should resort to police presence in schools in the future. They reasoned that teachers are "not trained in interrogation and investigation to get the true facts from any incidents," and questioned if the police would be in a better position to deal with the incident, especially when death threats were made.
"This way, we can also free up teacher's bandwidth from handling these issues that they are not trained for, so that they can focus on their teaching duties."
Screenshot via Facebook
A Singapore content creator, Familee, also
weighed in on the teachers' roles in such bullying cases.
He said teachers should not be blamed when such incidents occur, as they are already overwhelmed by their workload.
To expect them to be able to expertly identify and handle "complex bullying cases" on their own is not realistic, as it can be challenging to differentiate between children playing and "actual bullying," he added.
As such, he suggested that the responsibility be shifted away from teachers and that the MOE should establish an "anti-bullying unit" in every school.
The unit would be comprised of trained professionals, such as investigation officers, to investigate bullying cases.
He also suggested a safe way for children to report bullying, either through an online form or a physical form they can collect from the school's general office.
He argued that a three-day suspension is insufficient as a punishment, likening it to a "mini school holiday for these bullies".
He also called for corrective work orders in schools, such as clearing the school yard or washing dishes in the canteen.
"Instead of blaming teachers, let's build a system that truly protect our kids."
Dissecting MOE's statement
In MOE's statement, it said that when parents choose to publicise a "dramatised, one-sided account on social media, it causes further emotional distress for their children and hinders school efforts to rehabilitate and reconcile".
Ex-TOC editor Andrew Loh likened MOE's word choice
to dismissing the victim's mother's account of what happened and found it hard to believe the mother's account was "dramatised".
He also argued that it was "highly unnecessary for MOE to attack the mother by accusing her of 'dramatising' the matter."
Former
ST editor Bertha Henson provided a summary, saying that MOE has defended the actions of the school, maintaining that it had acted in a timely manner in a case of alleged bullying that surfaced on social media.
A comment on Reddit felt that MOE's statement
felt like a "villainisation" of the mother by "policing her actions".
With many in the comments of news articles and other forums wondering if action would have been taken as decisively without the social media furore.
Stand up to bullies
Ex-Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng
took a different stance, sharing his belief that children should be taught to stand up to their bullies instead of "appealing to 'teacher' and authorities".
He claimed that those children would grow up to be adults who "report police" for every small matter, and outside of Singapore, such behaviour would "invite mockery".
He also said that Singapore seemed to "blithely accept that nine-year-olds who misbehave should be caned as punishment."
"We joke about this... But to be honest, it's a very uncivilised way to punish people," Cheng added.
How MOE handles bullying incidents
Previously in Parliament, former Second Minister for Education Maliki Osman said that any form of hurtful behaviour is not acceptable and has no place in schools.
When an incident is reported, a school will conduct thorough investigations to understand the facts before deciding on the appropriate course of action, Maliki said.
This could include both disciplinary and rehabilitative actions if a police report is filed.
He explained that the Ministry of Education (MOE) and schools would "prefer to handle each case sensitively to provide space and privacy for the students involved to learn from their mistakes and grow from the experience."
However, if a case is made public online, and the information provided is "unduly skewed," MOE may need to release details of the case, including actions of all who were involved, to provide "a balanced view of the entire incident," he said.
This is to be fair to educators and all parties involved, he explained.
"While we would hope that members of the public can remember that what they see or read online may not present the full facts of the case, they will often react emotively to what they see online, and form quick judgments on what had happened, or who was in the right or wrong in that incident."
MOE shared in 2024 that in the last five years, the average number of bullying incidents has remained steady.
For every 1,000 students, there were an average of two incidents in primary schools and six incidents in secondary schools annually for any form of bullying, both within and outside of school.
Top photo via Google Maps
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