It was during a playtime between her two children that a Malaysian mother, Teng Aai Hong, found out that her 5-year-old daughter had been tied up and gagged and punished by teacher — the kindergarten headmistress — for being too naughty.
Punished by teacher
According to media reports, the 36-year-old mother, found her five-year-old daughter tying up and gagging with a napkin her two-year-old brother during a role-playing game. Appalled to what she had witnessed, she said she “scolded her and asked her why she was doing that.”
Speaking at a press conference organised by MCA Public Services said her child “told [her] that was what her teacher did to her when she was being naughty.”
The mother of two had then decided to the headmistress over the matter.
No remorse
The headmistress apparently showed no remorse when confronted about the said punishment.
“She admitted tying up my daughter but insisted that she didn’t do anything wrong because that was her own method of disciplining the children,” said Teng. “She even demonstrated it by tying up another child.”
Shocked that a dangerous punishment was being meted out in the kindergarten, she decided to withdraw her child there. She has since lodged a police report.
A child died in China after being punished by teacher
A six-year-old child, Guo Jintong, died earlier this year after a teacher allegedly used glue and tape to seal the girl’s mouth shut because “she talked too much” during her school’s morning stretches and aerobics.
With her mouth gagged, the child continued to jump with the rest of her class and then later started twitching. The child was thenr taken to the hospital where they tried to resuscitate her but failed. She died of suffocation.
DepEd warns teachers on punishing students
In the Philippines, a memorandum to all the schools on the “No Corporal Punishment” policy had been issued.
The Department of Education (DepEd) prohibits the use of any kind of punishment for an alleged or actual offense. This pertains to punishments carried out by a school employee, or any other child who has been given or has assumed authority or responsibility for punishment or discipline.
According to DepEd, no form of abuse is deemed justifiable, even if done with the intention of teaching responsibility. It also added that the government has zero tolerance for this behavior.
(Source: The Star Online, DepEd)
Republished with permission from: theAsianParent Singapore, and edited for theAsianparent Philippines.