ALLEGED BULLYING
In her post, the Facebook user said her daughter, who is in Primary 3, came home on Jul 24 and told her she wanted to stop going to school.
She said she had been “persistently bullied” by three students in her class for almost six months.
The student’s mother also said that her daughter had reported the bullying to her teachers multiple times.
After she contacted the mother of one of the boys who bullied her daughter, the students’ form teacher said both sides had been asked to “apologise to each other”.
On Jul 26, the mother said they completed a detailed written complaint and sent it to the school as well as the relevant teachers. Hours later, the student’s mother began receiving a series of calls from unknown numbers, harassing her, she said.
“The threat came from one of the boys accused of bullying my daughter, who stated in the message that this was revenge for me contacting a friend’s mother to complain about my daughter being hit,” she wrote in her post.
After receiving the death threats, the family made a police report, while continuing to receive calls, said the student’s mother. They also raised the issue with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and their Member of Parliament (MP).
The police confirmed with CNA that a report was lodged over the incident.
The minimum age of criminal responsibility in Singapore, which is the minimum age a person can be held criminally responsible for their actions, is 10 years old. This means that anyone aged under 10 cannot be held responsible for their actions, even if they have committed an offence.
Three days later, the same student who had issued the death threats attempted to assault her daughter again on school grounds, she said, claiming that the school was unaware of the incident.
The family emailed the school to express their concerns about retaliation from the girl’s bullies, she said.
The girl was then attacked another three times, she said.
“My daughter is now too afraid to return to school and has been absent for four consecutive days. She is currently receiving professional psychological support,” she wrote in her Facebook post.
She called on MOE to allow her daughter to transfer schools, as well as to take the appropriate disciplinary action and counselling for the students behind the bullying and death threats.
In a Facebook post on Saturday night, the girl’s mother responded to the school’s statement that was published by Chinese media outlet Lianhe Zaobao.
She said she had not received any written replies or concrete plans for her daughter’s safety as of Aug 16, and was shocked that the school claimed her daughter had also engaged in inappropriate behaviour that harmed others.
She called on the school to provide evidence for their claim. “If my daughter did engage in misconduct, I will not cover it up and will fully support MOE’s procedures,” she wrote.
The mother said the school’s statement about her daughter’s behaviour “deeply harms the victim, diverts public attention, and shifts blame onto the child”.
CNA has contacted the mother for more information.
