SINGAPORE – The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has acknowledged that there was a lapse in its handling of the Woodlands Mart child mismanagement case, and said it is reviewing its systems and processes.

In a statement issued on Monday, ECDA said it began investigations into the case on Aug 11, a day after a whistle-blower provided the agency with video evidence.

The case in question came to public attention on Aug 28, after videos of a teacher at Kinderland’s Woodlands Mart pre-school forcing children to drink water and hitting a child on the buttocks with a book were circulated on social media and messaging platforms.

ECDA said its officer had assessed that sufficient supervisory measures were put in place by the pre-school to mitigate the risk to the safety of the children while investigations were ongoing.

However, the officer failed to immediately remove the teacher from classroom duties, which is the established protocol for cases with clear evidence that a child’s safety is endangered.

ECDA chief executive Tan Chee Wee said: “ECDA should have done better. We apologise for not getting Kinderland to immediately remove the educator from her classroom role while investigations are ongoing.”

The agency is reviewing its systems and procedures to strengthen them and ensure better oversight of cases under investigation, he added.

On Monday, ECDA said it has instructed Kinderland headquarters to conduct an independent review of child management practices in all its pre-schools, and to report to ECDA on its findings and recommendations within three months.

“During this period, ECDA will also place all pre-schools under Kinderland on close monitoring and conduct more frequent unannounced checks on their classroom management practices.”

The agency also provided an update on its investigations into recent incidents at the two Kinderland centres that have come under the spotlight: the one at Woodlands Mart and another centre in Choa Chu Kang.

Cases at Kinderland in Woodlands Mart

ECDA said it has issued a warning to the pre-school, imposed a $5,000 penalty on the operator and reduced its licence tenure to six months with immediate effect, given the severity of the two incidents.

In the incident that went viral, the behaviour depicted in the video clip showed a breach of the Early Childhood Development Centres Regulations (ECDC), it said. Among other things, the law prohibits force-feeding and hitting a child.

Former pre-school teacher Lin Min, 33 was charged in court last Wednesday with ill-treating a child, an offence under the Children and Young Persons Act.

The Singaporean woman is accused of committing the offence at the pre-school shortly before 4pm on June 30.

ECDA said the educator involved was issued a warning under the ECDC, and has been barred from working in the pre-school sector.

The agency’s investigations at the centre also established that another educator had used inappropriate methods to restrict the movement of a three-year-old child under her charge.

She had 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 a warning to this educator, whom it did not name, and required her to be placed under close supervision for three months. She must also attend refresher training on child management strategies.

Investigations showed that the centre’s principal did not exercise adequate supervision over her staff in their management of children and failed to prevent the use of inappropriate child management methods.

Thus, the agency has cancelled its approval for her to be deployed as a principal in a pre-school.

ECDA said the principal has been issued a warning, and will be required to attend refresher training on child management strategies. It will consider her suitability as a principal after she has completed the training, and after a two-year period, it added.

Last Thursday, Kinderland Singapore general manager Seet Lee Kiang told The Straits Times that the principal, Ms Mahirah Yasid, had been redeployed to other roles in the company since Wednesday.

ECDA said that it will not renew the licence of the pre-school at the end of six months if the pre-school fails to demonstrate significant improvements in its standard of care to their children.

Cases at Sunshine Place in Choa Chu Kang

ECDA said that it received two reports involving the Kinderland centre at Sunshine Place in Choa Chu Kang.

Last Tuesday, it received a report of child mismanagement that had occurred some time around April 2022, when an educator was seen pushing a three-year-old child.

The agency said its investigations are still ongoing. Police have also started investigations into the case, ECDA added.

They arrested a 48-year-old pre-school teacher last Tuesday after a video circulated online showing her allegedly hitting a young boy. The woman is being investigated for voluntarily causing hurt against someone who is under 14.

ECDA said the pre-school has, of its own accord, placed the educator on leave of absence pending the outcome of investigations.

The other case, which has been concluded, was reported to ECDA on June 1 by a parent of a two-year-old child who withdrew from the pre-school in May. ECDA’s investigations showed that the incident happened in April.

Two educators at the centre admitted to strapping the child in his chair on several occasions. The straps were taken from an infant seat used in the centre’s infant care bay.

ECDA instructed the centre to immediately stop this practice, and ensure that all its educators adopt appropriate methods and work closely with parents to manage the behaviour of each child.

“We also issued stern reminders under the ECDC regulations to the pre-school and two educators for failing to use positive and developmentally appropriate methods to manage the child,” said the agency.

The centre was informed that more severe actions would be taken should a similar incident happen again in future, ECDA added.

Correction note: An earlier version of this article stated that ECDA received a report that an educator at Kinderland Sunshine Place at Choa Chu Kang was seen pushing a five-year-old child. ECDA has updated that the child is three-years-old.