SINGAPORE – Some parents remain concerned even after Kinderland hired a new principal and installed more closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in one of its pre-schools, after videos of a teacher allegedly manhandling children at that branch went viral on Monday.

The parents were also informed that the pre-school education provider would review its hiring and training process for teachers and improve its communication with parents, among other changes, its management said on Saturday.

In the first of three dialogues on Saturday at the school, Kinderland Singapore general manager Seet Lee Kiang and a representative from Crestar Education Group spoke to about 30 parents and guardians. 

Crestar Education Group provides infant care and childcare services, pre-school education, and enrichment and adult education programmes in the region through four brands including Kinderland.

Some parents told The Straits Times that the meeting was “insufficient” to reassure them, adding that the issue of refunds for parents who had withdrawn their children from the school was not addressed. Some also felt the management was not sincere in wanting to resolve the problems.

The first dialogue, which some parents described as “tense”, lasted 90 minutes. It was followed by a tour of the centre – which was requested by the parents – to view new CCTV cameras installed in classrooms and activity areas. These are in addition to cameras that are already installed in the common corridors, as well as at the centre’s entrance.

The dialogues came after a dozen parents went to the school on Wednesday to seek explanation and solutions, but were asked to return on another day.

Mr Seet said all parents with children at the branch, which has about 70 to 80 pupils, were invited to the sessions. In total, 96 parents attended the sessions.

Some parents who attended the first session, however, said the school had not invited them. They found out about it through the news or parent chat groups.

One of them, Ms T, a 32-year-old marketing executive, said on Friday: “Their manager was pushing (the meeting) off.”

She has two children, aged six and two, at the pre-school.

Ms T said on Saturday that the dialogue was “not very fruitful” because the management team told parents it needed to review issues raised before responding.

“I don’t think I’m satisfied at this moment. They have to gain back our trust,” she said, adding that she wanted to withdraw her younger daughter from Kinderland, but other pre-schools nearby did not have vacancies at the moment.

During the meeting, parents were told that they would be contacted individually if they had concerns about refunds.

“I don’t think they were prepared for this dialogue,” said Ms T, adding that the response was “disappointing” and did not seem sincere.

On Saturday, parents started arriving at the school at about 9.55am. 

A parent, whose two-year-old child is seen in one of the videos that surfaced on Monday, arrived at about 10am and told reporters that the school had not yet issued a formal apology to affected parents.

Another parent, Mr L, had a heated argument with Kinderland employees who initially did not allow him to join in the dialogue, even though he helped to arrange it. They said it was because he withdrew his child two years ago, allegedly after the child went home with injuries. He was eventually allowed into the meeting.

Mr L, who is the director of a company, said the parents had suggested that teachers should be able to use their personal devices in “emergency cases”, following the school’s Facebook post on Wednesday that its staff would no longer be allowed to use these devices, such as mobile phones, during teaching hours to “prevent the misuse of photos and videos of our children”. 

Mr L said: “The whistle-blower used her personal phone to video record such evidence, and it was because of her courageous act that all this surfaced.”

He added that Kinderland’s post about personal devices gave parents “no assurance” of their children’s safety, and parents were worried future incidents of child mishandling might go undetected.

Mr Seet said the management apologised for the poor timing of the post and called it a public relations “disaster”. He said the policy had been in place since 2019 to protect pupils’ privacy.

Mr Seet told The Straits Times on Thursday that teachers would be allowed to use their personal devices in “emergency cases”.

“We have always encouraged whistle-blowing. We want the teachers to come to us and inform us of any incident if they do notice it,” he added. “We want to monitor whoever is mentioned, and then also to see what actions we can take.”

He explained that whistle-blowers can approach the centre’s principal. But if they want to remain anonymous, they can “go straight to upper level” or report it to Kinderland headquarters directly.

Mr K, whose one-year-old son is seen in a video being hit on the buttocks by the teacher, said that although cameras had been installed, there were only two cameras in opposite corners of a classroom, for example, leaving blind spots in the room.

Kinderland management told parents it would review the situation with the vendor when this issue was raised during the tour of the centre, he added.

Mr K said Kinderland apologised to him on Aug 17 or 18 for forcing his son to drink water. But when he saw in the video that his son was also hit by the teacher, he approached the school. 

The 39-year-old, who works in banking, said the pre-school insisted it had apologised for forcing his son to drink water and for the boy being hit with a book. “I don’t buy their explanation,” he said. 

“In this instance, if there were CCTV cameras, it would have been easier to verify all the issues,” he said.

Mr Seet confirmed on Saturday that some CCTV cameras were newly installed after the videos emerged on Monday.

The new principal, Ms Surinder Kaur, who will start work on Monday, was introduced to parents at the first dialogue. Mr Seet said the principal will be “walking about” more often and have a larger presence in the pre-school.

In a release on Saturday, Kinderland said Ms Kaur has 20 years of experience in the early childhood sector, including 10 years with Kinderland.

On Thursday, Mr Seet said former principal Mahirah Yasid was removed from the post and barred from participating in activities relating to children.

Mr K said he hopes the culture at the school will improve with a new leader. “After this incident, I feel that it will do a better job, but we have to wait and see the results,” he said.

Due to the lack of vacancies at other pre-schools, he has not withdrawn his child from the school.

Addressing reporters after the first dialogue, Mr Seet said he had acknowledged the parents’ concerns during the session.

“The trust is broken,” he said. “We are sorry. We didn’t want this to happen.”

He said that as at this week, six children had withdrawn from the school and he expected more withdrawals in the coming weeks.

Kinderland said on Saturday that a school counsellor with 14 years of experience has been appointed to help parents and children cope with this incident, if they require help.

Lin Min, 33, the teacher allegedly seen in the videos that emerged on Monday, appeared in court via video link on Wednesday, where she was charged with ill-treating a child. She is said to have forced a 23-month-old girl into a lying position on the floor and poured water into her mouth. She has been fired from the school.

Details about the victim and the exact location of the incident cannot be disclosed because of a gag order.

Lin was one of two Kinderland teachers arrested this week for allegedly mistreating children under their care.

After a video taken at Kinderland’s Sunshine Place branch in Choa Chu Kang was circulated online widely on Tuesday, a 48-year-old teacher was arrested the same day. She has been suspended.

The video shows an adult hitting a boy on the head several times.