A Singapore based-mum who goes by the name Mickie Sae on Facebook recently wrote a detailed post about her son's alleged abuse at Sunflower Preschool in Bedok Reservoir.
Marks Of Abuse On Son's Body
The mum who appears to be of Thai descent claimed that her three-year-old son Eden was repeatedly abused by his teachers and often came back home with bruises, nails, and scratches in various parts of his body.
The most significant and recent mark she found was the one on his neck which apparently has not healed for over one week. Mickie then immediately visited her son's class teachers for an explanation to only find out that it might just be an allergy.
Based on this new theory, the mum went straight to the doctor and found out that the marks on her son's body were not due to an allergic reaction.
"The doctor gave the report that my child was not allergic, but if being pulled by something like a rope or causing a mark around the neck."
At this point, she said she felt horrible as a mother to see her child being abused.
Like any mother, Mickie then escalated the matter to the preschool's principal and demanded CCTV footage of the abuse. However, the principal said that the CCTV was broken and therefore could not give it to her.
Complained To MOE & ECDA
Frustrated with the preschool, the mum complained to the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Early Childhood Development Authority (ECDA) but did not get any response.
As a final resort, she shared her plight on Facebook and asked her friends and the general public to share her post.
"Every nationality in Singapore help me share this post with awareness that Singapore law can still be trusted and fair for 3-year-old children being abused, threatened by teachers at childcare, and CCTV no on at childcare !! How come can do this?? [sic]"
Sunflower Preschool Comments, ECDA issues statement
In a statement to Mothership.sg Sunflower Preschool's spokesperson said that ECDA "did not find any substantial evidence to suggest that there was child mismanagement in this incident," and that they are still awaiting updates from the Singapore Police Force.
Meanwhile, in a follow-up update by the website, ECDA said: "In August 2019, ECDA was alerted by the police to this incident. The case is undergoing police investigations."
It also said that it is "working closely with the preschool to ensure close supervision of children and provide guidance and support to the teachers in classroom management."
"We note that following the incident, the preschool reminded all their staff to abide by established procedures on child guidance and behaviour management, and tightened up on monitoring,” ECDA added.
This is not the first time preschool abuse cases have been reported, just a couple months ago, a teacher from an unnamed school was temporarily suspended after parents found bruises on their three-year-old son.