George Yang, Author at Goody Feed

After two videos of alleged child mistreatment went viral, the silence from Kinderland Singapore, the preschool in question, was deafening: people bombarded their social media platforms, seeking answers. The preschool finally responded with a media statement sent to the press late Tuesday night and a shorter version on their social media at 2AM on Wednesday morning. Here’s their response on social media: It doesn’t reveal much, and here’s more information about the media statement sent to the press. Incident in Kinderland Preschool @ Woodlands Mart Investigated Since 17 August 2023 Kinderland was first alerted about the incident on 17 August 2023 when the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) contacted them for an investigation. Subsequently, a Disciplinary Inquiry (DI) was initiated by Kinderland HQ, which addressed the issues with the teacher, whom we'll call Teacher A (although her identity has since been revealed in many other reports), and provided her with counseling. Teacher A expressed remorse and apologised for her actions. Meanwhile, the Principal of Woodlands Mart and Teacher A reached out to the parents of the affected children to inform them and apologise for the misconduct. Interestingly, all three parents mentioned that they did not notice any physical injuries or abnormal behavior in their children. However, the matter went viral after videos of the mistreatment surfaced online, and Teacher A has since been dismissed and arrested. According to Kinderland, Kinderland HQ requested for Teacher A to be dismissed on 28 August 2023 upon completing the DI. Currently, the ECDA and police are conducting an investigation into the matter. Despite the DI committee reaching out to another teacher in the room, who is called “Teacher B”, she did not admit to recording or posting the videos and claimed to have seen them from her friends. Therefore, the identity of who filmed and posted the videos remains unknown. However, Kinderland has provided more details about the teachers who were in the room. The Teachers Involved in Kinderland @ Woodlands Mart There have been circulating rumors regarding the nationality and particulars of the involved teachers. Teacher A is a 33-year-old Singaporean with significant experience and certification in childcare. She joined Kinderland in March 2020 and had previously received positive feedback from parents in annual surveys conducted by Kinderland. Teacher B, also Singaporean and 37 years old, joined Kinderland Woodlands Mart in May 2023 and resigned on 29 July 2023, citing the need to care for her ailing mother. This means she would have been serving her notice when the incident occurred During her exit interview, she did not express any dissatisfaction with her work environment. Another Incident in Choa Chu Kang Kinderland Lest you're aware, another video surfaced yesterday (29 August 2023), showing a teacher hitting a boy on his head at the Kinderland Choa Chu Kang centre. Image: Facebook It drew an almost similar response: the MP in the area voiced out his concern and the teacher was arrested, too. According to Kinderland, the Principal of that centre has reached out to the boy's parents, apologized, filed a report with ECDA, and suspended the involved teacher. New Measures After These Incidents In response to these incidents, Kinderland said they’re implementing new measures to better address the welfare of both children and teachers. These include enhancing their current policy to manage teachers' mental health, reinforcing the use of a Pre-school Management App, expanding the installation of CCTVs in all classrooms and children activity areas, and fine-tuning feedback and comments procedures for staff and teachers. Kinderland has also provided an additional point of contact for parents to directly contact the centres and Kinderland HQ in case of any matters. They hope that these measures will give teachers added confidence that their welfare, along with the children's, is a priority for Kinderland. They said that as of yesterday, they have received six requests for withdrawals of children from the two centres. So… What is Kinderland? Don't be surprised if you know Kinder Surprise but not Kinderland. Founded in 1978, Kinderland is a provider of infant care and bilingual preschool education for children between the ages of two months and six years. As part of the Crestar Education Group, Kinderland operates 15 centres throughout Singapore, and over 60 centres in the region. Crestar Education Group is a provider of preschool education, childcare services, children enrichment courses, and adult education programmes in the region.