Parents of caned pupil urge ministry to take action

Call for ban: Saw (middle) and his wife Pang Fee Yen (left) speaking to reporters while Wong holds up a picture of the girl’s bruised bottom.

KULAIJAYA: A couple is urging the Education Ministry to take action against a teacher for disciplining their nine-year-old daughter for drinking water without permission during class.

The girl’s father Saw Say Wei, 38, said his daughter had bruises on her bottom and palms after returning home from school in Senai here on July 1.

“My wife and I rushed home from Singapore after my parents-in-law told us of her injuries.

“We immediately went to see the school’s headmaster to find out what happened.

“The teacher admitted to caning my daughter twice on her palm and thrice on her bottom for not seeking permission before drinking water,” he said at a press conference.

He made a police report and lodgedwith the District Education Department.

Saw added his daughter is now reluctant to go to school as she is terrified of the teacher.

He also alleged that the teacher could have been seeking revenge as he had previously made complaints about him before.

Saw said that although the teacher had been transferred out of the school, he did not want him teaching other young children.

“I am afraid another child might become a victim of his violence,” he said.

Senai assemblyman Wong Shu Qi, who organised the press conference, said the Education Ministry should conduct psychiatric tests on educators.

Johor Education Department director Aminuddin Adam said that the department had received a complaint and the teacher had been transferred to the district education department.

“The case has been referred to the Education Ministry’s disciplinary board,” he added.