A Singaporean mum was aghast when she was asked to go to school for her son’s public caning—all because her son was late for school on several occasions in one week.
You might ask– is there more to it than just being late; was he spouting vulgarities or was he violent? No, the 16-year-old student was simply late three times, to be exact. Is punctuality an offense that is deserving of public caning?
The full story
For the purpose of the story, we will name the student Ben. Ben was suspended at 12:30 pm on a Friday afternoon for being late twice. He was 10 minutes late on both occasions. The boy was also chided for his untidy uniform and hair that is too long. Ben’s mother confirms that he went for a haircut merely days before school started.
Due to the fact that school just started and adjustments are being made, Ben was late for the third time on Tuesday this week. The school’s Discipline Master called Ben’s mother telling her that she would have to go to the school and Ben will be caned publically if he were to be late the 4th time around.
Ben’s mother told theAsianparent: “I did not respond in a negative way immediately as I wanted to hear my son’s side of the story to get the full picture. Then I found out that my son was not rude and did not do anything else deserving of a punishment. He was merely 7 to 10 minutes late.”
She added: “It’s ridiculous! The school should not come up with such a severe punishment for being late. A public caning is psychologically damaging and humiliating. It’s not like my son got into a fight or used drugs or committed a serious offense.”
Caning elevates a student to “celebrity status”?
theAsianparent gathered viewpoints of an ex MOE teacher, Aadilah. Public caning is not a novel sight for she has borne witness to many such instances during her tenure. She said: “It almost gave the students a celebrity status. That’s how common caning was! There would be one almost every morning.”
When questioned on what the children being caned were accused for, Aadilah mentioned the matters were frivolous, and not worthy of the punishment being issued.
After switching schools, Aadilah says she has only had to witness one student being publicly caned over a span of seven years. This child was caught on camera stealing from other students, and when punished the reason he was being caned was made clear.
Other Singaporean parents are outraged!
An outrage was sparked online on theAsianparent Facebook fan page when Ben’s mother posted the details of her case. Some parents were utterly flabbergasted over such a heavy punishment for a relatively petty offense. Some sentiments expressed are as included below:
Biby Akam: “It’s absolutely insane & childish for that school to resort to such uncalled for disciplinary actions. It’s not about parents complaining here but about the depth of the punishment that is being carried out. Utter rubbish!!”
Sherelle Chua Li: “I think the parents should address the issue and not let your kid be late for school…however, the school doesn’t have the right to cane children. It is child abuse in some countries; I’m just not sure whether those rules apply here. Canning in public is also not good for kid because it will leave a psychological and emotional scars”
Shen Meiling: “I don’t find this punishment reasonable, its RIDICULOUS! No doubt punctuality is a must for all students, but being late doesn’t require public caning unless its serious matter like maybe fighting, extorting from schoolmates. The school can just serve a warning letter to alert the parents & seek their co-operation to ensure their boy go to school punctually. I will never allow my kids to face such humiliation! Please let us know which secondary school it is so we won’t enroll our kids to that unreasonable school & face ridiculous punishment! Hope MOE will work on it. We send our kids to school to gain knowledge & contribute to the society, and not send them to receive such treatment. Teachers have the right to discipline our kids when they do wrong but not over-cross the line by caning! This is totally unacceptable! Hope this mum will protect her own son at all cost!”
Apparently, the school Ben goes to has caned one student in the past year for being tardy. His mother is still waiting to hear from the principal and the Discipline Master. If you disagree with the harsh punishment implemented by the school for punctuality issues or if you support our cause — “Say NO to public caning in our schools, please visit our Facebook page.
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