SINGAPORE: A former preschool teacher pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Jul 22) to kicking a four-year-old girl as she felt that the child, who was seated, had nearly caused her to trip.
The child felt pain on her shin, which became bruised.
Alamelu Paramaguru, a 57-year-old Singaporean, admitted to one charge of ill-treating a child under the Children and Young Persons Act.
The court heard that she was known as “Teacher Meloo” at the kindergarten, which cannot be named due to a gag order preventing identification of the victim.
The child was in Kindergarten 1 at the time of the offence in April 2024.
On Apr 2, 2024, Alamelu was in charge of the K1 class. After morning lessons, the children had lunch and a bath. They were to have a nap around noon.
At about 11.55am, Alamelu sanitised the sleeping cots and placed them on the floor.
She instructed a group of seven students, including the victim, to move away from a corner of the classroom as she wanted to place the cots there.
Six of them moved, but the victim remained seated on the floor.
Alamelu began moving a cot to the corner. After this, she turned and felt that she had nearly been tripped by the victim, although she did not trip or fall.
Alamelu became angry. She forcefully kicked the girl on her right shin while scolding and shouting at her to sit properly.
The child felt pain and hugged her shin before burying her face. Alamelu did not attend to the girl and continued to scold her.
Later that evening, the girl told her mother that Teacher Meloo had kicked her as she was “not sitting properly”.
Her mother saw a bruise on the girl’s shin and immediately spoke to other teachers, since Alamelu had left for the day.
The teachers said they would bring the matter up with the principal the next day, and the victim’s mother lodged a police report that same night.
The girl was seen at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital with a bruise measuring 1cm by 1cm. She was given two days of medical leave and some cream.
During investigations, Alamelu said she could not remember what had happened when asked if she had done anything to the girl.
She said that, “unconsciously”, her foot could have touched or made contact with the girl’s leg.
Alamelu, who is defended by Mr Jonathan Wong from Tembusu Law, is no longer with the school. CNA has contacted the Early Childhood Development Agency for more information.
She will return to court for mitigation and sentencing in August.
For ill-treating a child, she could be jailed for up to eight years, fined up to S$8,000, or both.
