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Ho Ching criticizes Kinderland’s response to alleged mistreatment; Advocates for child safety and whistleblower systems

Madam Ho Ching, former Temasek CEO and spouse of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, criticizes Kinderland’s handling of alleged mistreatment. She questions the policy of banning personal devices during teaching and supports the teacher who documented abuse, urging the importance of whistleblower systems and safeguarding children’s identities.

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SINGAPORE: Madam Ho Ching, the wife of Singapore’s Prime Minister, has openly criticized Kinderland’s handling of their alleged mistreatment issue, emphasizing her disapproval of the institution’s approach.

Approximately a week ago, footage depicting teachers at Kinderland Preschool allegedly mistreating students had been circulating online.

Since then, one of the measures implemented by the school was the introduction of a policy prohibiting their staff from utilizing personal devices during teaching sessions.

Madam Ho Ching expressed her disagreement with the strategy, asserting that it is “seriously wrong” to enforce a policy of no personal devices at this juncture.

On her Facebook page, she posted a critique of Kinderland’s approach to addressing their concerns, affirming that the former teacher who recorded the incidents was right to do so.

Mdm Ho Ching FB post on Kinderland’s issue (Pic: HO Ching/Facebook)

“Kinderland bosses should have taken abuse reports seriously” 

On 2 September, Madam Ho Ching took to Facebook to express her opinions regarding the Kinderland news.

In her statement, she rebuked the kindergarten’s principal and leadership for their lack of seriousness in addressing reports of abuse, while underscoring the vulnerability of young children.

Kinderland Preschool at Woodlands Mart. (Photo: Google Maps)

She emphasized that anyone in charge of an early childhood centre, be it a preschool, infant care, nursery, or kindergarten, “should take as an absolute the safety and security of the young, charges under their care,” she added.

Questions policy of banning personal device

In response to the alleged mistreatment incidents, Kinderland had implemented a policy, as mentioned in a Facebook post on 30 August, approximately two days after the first video surfaced.

This policy prohibits staff from using personal devices during teaching hours, with the stated goal of safeguarding the privacy of children.

Madam Ho Ching criticized the implementation of the policy, stating that it was a misguided decision.

She question whether this action was only a way of the establishment to cover up embarrassment and prevent future incidents of video evidence of abuse.

Because if this was the case, “that is absolutely the wrong approach,” she remarked.

She suggested creating an effective whistleblower system and process, highlighting the significance of permitting personal devices to record evidence.

She supported the teacher who documented the alleged abuse

Additionally, Madam Ho also expressed her support for the actions of the former Kinderland teacher who recorded the alleged abuse.

She stated that the teacher was justified in filming the actions of her colleague, especially when it seemed to be a last resort due to the alleged lack of seriousness from the principal in addressing the issue.

However, she recognized that the teacher should have first brought the issue to the attention of the kindergarten’s senior management if she believed her reports were not being treated seriously by the principal.

If this course of action proved ineffective, she recommended that the teacher should have reported the incident to various authorities, such as the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), the police, the Ministry of Education (MOE), and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

Madam Ho Ching emphasized that sharing the videos on social media should have been considered a last resort, with a primary focus on protecting the identities of the children involved.

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IMDA to probe Singtel’s island-wide landline outage of 8 October

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is investigating Singtel’s island-wide landline outage on 8 October, emphasising its commitment to thoroughly examining any public telecommunications service interruption. A Singtel spokesperson described the outage as an “isolated incident,” adding that there is “no evidence to suggest it is a cyber-related event.”

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2 days ago

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9 October 2024

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On 8 October 2024, a significant landline outage affected Singtel customers across the island.

According to Lianhe Zaobao, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) stated that it takes any public telecommunications service interruption seriously and will investigate the incident thoroughly.

In a Facebook update at 8:25 PM on the same day, Singtel announced that its fixed voice services had been fully restored.

The telecommunications provider expressed its apologies for the disruption and the inconvenience caused to customers.

Earlier, the disruption also impacted emergency call services, affecting both the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and the Singapore Police Force (SPF).

Members of the public experiencing difficulties reaching emergency numbers 995 or 999 were advised to send an SMS to SCDF at 70995 or SPF at 70999.

Both SPF and SCDF later reported on 7PM that the earlier disruption affecting the 995 and 999 emergency hotlines has been resolved.

The authorities assured the public that they could resume using these hotlines for emergencies and expressed gratitude for the public’s understanding during the outage.

Earlier that day, around noon, multiple users reported difficulties making calls through landlines on Singtel’s official Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter), including problems with office lines.

A check on Downdetector revealed a surge in outage reports for Singtel beginning around 2 PM, peaking at 2,781 complaints. By 5 PM, the number of reports had decreased to over 500.

According to the feedback on Downdetector, most of the problems faced by users pertain to landlines, which matches the responses from netizens on social media platforms.

Major institutions were also affected by the outage. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), the National Cancer Centre, and Changi General Hospital (CGH), all under SingHealth, alerted the public to the disruption.

By approximately 6:30 PM, all three institutions confirmed that their telephone services had been restored.

Additionally, Singapore’s three local banks—DBS, UOB, and OCBC—reported similar issues with their customer service hotlines during the outage.

According to CNA, a spokesperson from Singtel described the outage as an “isolated incident” and stated that there is “no evidence to suggest it is a cyber-related event.”

 

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Emergency phone services restored following Singtel landline outage

Both the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) announced at 7 PM on 8 October that the disruption affecting 995 and 999 hotlines had been resolved. This followed Singtel’s island-wide landline outage earlier that day. The public can now resume using the hotlines for emergencies.

Published

3 days ago

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8 October 2024

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SINGAPORE: Both the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) announced via Facebook at around 7:00 PM on 8 October that the earlier disruption affecting the 995 and 999 emergency hotlines has been resolved.

The issue followed an island-wide outage of Singtel’s landline services, which occurred around noon.

The authorities confirmed that the public can now resume using the hotlines for emergencies and expressed their gratitude for the public’s understanding during the disruption.

At 5:07 PM, Singtel posted an update on Facebook stating that their engineers had isolated the problem affecting their fixed voice services.

The telco provider added that recovery measures were swiftly being deployed, and services were progressively being restored.

Earlier, users had taken to Singtel’s official Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter) to report difficulties making landline calls, including issues with office lines.

A check on Downdetector revealed a surge in outage reports for SingTel starting around 2 PM.

According to the feedback on Downdetector, most of the problems faced by users pertain to landlines, which matches the responses from netizens on social media platforms.

Major institutions were also affected by the outage. KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), the National Cancer Centre, and Changi General Hospital (CGH), all under SingHealth, alerted the public to the disruption.

By approximately 6:30 PM, all three institutions confirmed that their telephone services had been restored.

Additionally, Singapore’s three local banks—DBS, UOB, and OCBC—reported similar issues with their customer service hotlines during the outage.

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