A mother recently discovered that her daughter was punishing her younger brother during a role playing game. The ‘punishment’ was a little dangerous, and the mum was shocked that her daughter could do such a thing.
On questioning, the child revealed where she had got the idea from.
Punished in kindergarten: Little girl tied up and gagged
According to The Star Online, the incident happened in Malaysia, and the 5-year-old girl had been found tying up and gagging her 2 -year-old brother with a napkin for being too noisy.
Mummy Ms Teng Aai Hong told The Star, “I scolded her and asked her why she was doing that.”
And then, she got to know the truth, “She told me that was what her teacher did to her when she was being naughty.”
Horrified that her son could have suffocated had she not noticed and intervened, Ms. Teng decided to confront the headmistress of the kindergarten about the matter.
The headmistress apparently showed no remorse, and in Ms. Teng’s words, “She admitted to tying up my daughter but claimed that she didn’t do anything wrong as that was her method of disciplining the students.”
What is even worse is, “She even went on to demonstrate her method by tying up another student.”
Ms. Teng is shocked that such a dangerous punishment was being meted out in the kindergarten. She has complained to the police about it, and has also withdrawn her daughter from the kindergarten. Police are investigating the case.
MCA Public Services and Complaints Department chief Datuk Seri Michael Chong has also expressed his concerns on the use of such punishment in schools, especially when it involved the safety of young children.
Earlier this year, a little girl died in kindergarten in China, after a similar punishment.
She was punished, because her teacher thought that she talked too much during her school’s morning stretches and aerobics. She had allegedly used glue and tape to seal the girl’s mouth shut.
With her mouth gagged, the poor little girl continued to jump with the rest of her class. However, teachers soon noticed that she was twitching and the nurse called the ambulance.
It was too late though; the young child had been suffocated to death.
Many teachers still follow the practice of scotch-taping a noisy child’s mouth, without thinking too much of the dangers. It is high time we put an end to such disciplining practices.
Also READ: Is punishment in Singapore schools too extreme?
(Source: The Star Online)
