3 Sengkang Green Primary pupils suspended for bullying schoolmate, with 1 of them caned: MOE
The three boys were immediately suspended after they issued death threats to their schoolmate's mother. ST PHOTO: ARIFFIN JAMAR
SINGAPORE - A pupil from Sengkang Green Primary School has been caned for his involvement in bullying a female classmate, with the school acting “in a timely manner”, said the Ministry of Education (MOE).
The boy is among three Primary 3 pupils suspended after death threats were sent to the girl’s mother, after she reported them to the school for bullying her daughter.
Facebook user Ni Yin posted earlier in August about a series of alleged bullying incidents that had happened over several months, resulting in her nine-year-old daughter requesting to stop attending school.
Her post on Aug 14 was accompanied by an audio recording of the threats levelled against her and her family, which was sent on July 26, after she had filed a complaint with the school.
Given the severity of the allegations, MOE said in a social media post on Aug 20 that it would make public the facts.
It said that each time an incident was reported, the school addressed it in a timely manner and took firm disciplinary action, “while seeking to restore friendships and help the children to learn and grow”.
The ministry added that the girl herself had engaged in hurtful behaviour on some occasions, and the school had handled such incidents fairly.
After the three boys had issued threats, they were immediately suspended, MOE said. The school will also mete out further disciplinary actions, including caning, while also working with their parents so that they can learn from their actions.
MOE added that the school had engaged with the parents of the pupils involved on various occasions and told them of the actions that it had undertaken, as well as the safety plan for the affected pupil.
It also said that the school on Aug 14 had arranged to meet the girl’s parents on Aug 18, but before the meeting, her mother had made her allegations on Facebook that the school did not take any action, nor put in place any measures to protect her daughter.
In the Facebook post on the night of Aug 14, Ms Ni Yin detailed the various instances of bullying her daughter faced, accompanied by an audio recording of the threats levelled against her and her family, which was sent on July 26.
In the recording, a child’s voice can be heard shouting a bunch of expletives, before saying: “I might dissect her. I might dissect her into pieces like you. So which one do you want me to do? Dissect her? Or end her life in school?
“Choose one. Either don’t want one, I will kill you instead and your husband.”
Following the threats, Ms Ni Yin said she then filed a police report and also notified the school, MOE and her constituency’s Member of Parliament to ensure they paid attention to the issue.
The police confirmed that a report was lodged and are looking into the matter.
In the Facebook post on Aug 14, Ms Ni Yin detailed the various instances of bullying her daughter faced, accompanied by an audio recording of the threats levelled against her and her family. PHOTO: NI YIN/FACEBOOK
MOE said in its statement that the meeting on Aug 18 took place over four hours, with the school going through the sequence of events with the parents of the girl, including the behaviour that she had participated in.
“The parents agreed to work with the school to have their child return to the current school with the enhanced safety plan in place, without further request for a school transfer,” it said.
The ministry added: “MOE and schools take a firm stand against bullying and hurtful behaviour.
“We understand the anxieties of parents whose children may be affected by hurtful behaviour, and we urge parents to work closely with the school to support their child’s well-being.”
Posting a one-sided account on social media would cause “further emotional distress” to their children, while also hampering the school’s efforts to rehabilitate and reconcile, said MOE.
For this particular case, it also resulted in online attacks and doxxing of teachers and children, which the ministry said were bullying behaviours and sent the wrong message to children.
The issue of bullying cases in schools was spotlighted in February, when then-Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said in Parliament that his ministry takes a serious view of any act of bullying or violence.
He said that
parents should leave it to the respective schools and the authorities to handle such cases, without speculating or stepping in, which complicate matters.
Previously, he said in October 2024 that the
average number of bullying incidents had held steady.
For every 1,000 students, there is an annual average of two incidents of bullying in primary schools, and six in secondary schools.
These incidents cover all forms of bullying, whether it occurs in or outside school.
Timeline of events
There has been a series of squabbling and verbal exchanges among the pupils in the class, said MOE.
End-April: The girl reported pupil A for using an offensive slur on her and another classmate. As the girl had also used an offensive slur on pupil A, the form teacher asked both pupils to apologise to one another for using bad language.
Mid-July: The girl asked her form teacher to change her seat. The teacher decided to monitor the situation first, as he observed that the girl was talking and laughing with pupils A and B.
July 25: The girl asked her form teacher again to change her seat, as pupils A and B’s chatter made it difficult for her to focus during lessons. She also said that the two pupils had used inappropriate language on her, and that pupil C had touched her face without consent. As she had admitted to using inappropriate language on pupils A and B, the three pupils were told to apologise to one another and focus on mending their friendship.
Later that day, the form teacher informed the girl that he had informed her parent and would change her seat the following Monday. He would also look into her feedback about pupil C.
July 26: The girl’s mother reported to the school that she had received prank calls and death threats.
July 28: The school pulled the three boys from class. Based on the school’s checks, pupil A had obtained the mobile number from his parent. The trio had made multiple prank calls to the girl’s parent, with pupil C sending audio messages threatening the parent and her family. The school reprimanded all three pupils and informed their parents that they would be suspended from school immediately.
That same morning, the vice-principal met the girl’s parents to inform them about the actions that had been taken by the school, including a change of seat to separate her from the three pupils, and future plans to conduct bag checks after they had served their suspension. The vice-principals also spoke to the girl’s parents on the telephone in the evening to share plans to assign peers to accompany the girl in school.
As the girl’s parents had made a police report on the death threats, the school assured them that the school would review and take additional disciplinary actions, which may include caning, after police has looked into the matter.
July 30: The girl informed the form teacher that a classmate had sprayed water on her. Investigations by the teacher established that this was after the girl had used hurtful words on the classmate, including a racial slur to a classmate of another race, and telling others not to befriend the classmate. The classmate then sprayed water in retaliation. Both were counselled for their actions. The classmate’s parent was informed of the incident, and the school had planned to share this with the girl’s parents at a face-to-face meeting.
July 31: The safety plan was sent via e-mail to the parents.
Aug 7: School was informed of a bruise on the girl. The school established that pupil C had swung his bag into the girl during school dismissal. CCTV footage showed that the teacher present was managing another group of pupils and did not witness the incident, and no pupil had approached the teacher to alert him of the incident. Following investigations, the school engaged pupil C’s parents.
Aug 12: Pupil C was caned.
Aug 14: School arranged to meet the girl’s parents on Aug 18 to update them on the actions taken and steps to support the girl’s return to school.
Aug 15, Aug 16: Parent made her allegations on social media.
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