7/09/2013

My First Skool – Sack all of them


When I first suggested the idea that all the staff in the childcare should be sacked, I thought I was over reacting and a bit harsh. Now with more cases of abuses being revealed, with more children have scratches and signs of abuses on their bodies and with a child having nightmare and unable to sleep, my call is not overreacting.
 

If Yusuf’s case has not surfaced, the poor children would continue to be in living hell, being bullied and abused daily. I really feel very sorry for the children there, daily being harassed by their caregivers without anyone having a clue of what was going on and with all the staff keeping quiet about it. It is not a childcare but a horror chamber.
 

At least two parents have made police reports of their children being abused in the same centre. And you have jokers saying that it was not abuse but mishandling. And you have asses who could not differentiate between disciplinary actions or the normal knocks and tumbles of children. Even disciplinary action is uncalled for at such tender age. How many of the children really know what they are doing and that their behavior is unacceptable and deserved to be punished?
 

The school administration must do a thorough investigation, review all the video recordings to get to the bottom of the problem. How painful it is to subject the children to such terrifying experience? The children need to be counseled and helped to forget this dreadful experience to grow up as healthy and well adjusted children. Hopefully the scar will go away fast. The whole thing is so sickening.
 

When so many cases of abuses are being reported, it only shows that Yusuf is not an isolated case and it did not happen overnight but could be ongoing for too long. Sack everyone of them for allowing the torture chamber to go on for so long and to put so many vulnerable children through such an ordeal. Every child will be adversely affected psychologically seeing how their playmates are being harassed and beaten daily.
 

Can you believe that this is happening in our neighbourhood? And no one seems to be concerned about the harm done to the children except their parents.

44 comments:

theonion said...

RB

"All these poor singaporeans who have been prejudged without even a investigation and removed", where is your cry of justice, where is your cry to support your own

Anonymous said...

It is goooooooooood!

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

These are people that parents put their full trust to take care of their little ones. Now so many instances of abuses and you are saying as if nothing happened?

Do you have children or grandchildren at those tender age? Try to feel how it is like if your children or grandchildren had to go through those painful and frightening experience and being abused like Yusuf.

The cry of his mother was so unbearable. So was the cry of poor Yusuf, with a fracture shin and forced to stand up. You know what is pain? That poor child in great pain, alone in the company of strangers abusing him! What he needed was the warm and assuring hug of a mother or another caring adult....

Anonymous said...

RB,

there is another big area which might not be in many people's radars ......

there are many toddlers and babies placed in the care of private baby sitters and care givers at their flats .....

this area is highly unregulated and it is not an exaggeration that "ill treatments" of the "defenceless babies and toddlers" may be of a much higher proportion and frequencies .....

personally experienced at least three cases/ incidents myself years ago when my kids were much younger ......

immediately pulled my kids out and terminated the service of the private child care givers on the first instances though it gave us a lot of "inconveniences and troubles " to find replacements and also face huge pressure from employers for taking sudden work leaves for doing so ......

such is the scale of problems faced by young couples in our society ......

no prize for guessing why TFR is so low and getting lower by the year except "bonanza dragon" years .....

If you ever go fully retired, you may wish to stand outside the flats of some baby sitters and child givers and hear the daily and incessant screaming, crying and wailing coming out of some units ..... as parents of a few kids myself, these are definitely not normal crying of babies or toddlers but probably of some form of "abuse"......

Of course many child care givers or baby sitters are quite good and should not be lumped with the bad ones but having such problems and "potential abuses" in our midst are like "time-bombs" .....

I am not anti-ruling party but given the authority's abilities in handling such issues over the years, I would not place my bet that the problems and worries of young couples can be fully solved, addressed and allayed beyond reasonable doubts.

I always felt so "troubled and stressed" looking back at the time when my kids needed child care service when they were much younger ..... I would never want to experience that ever again ......

But recently it occurred to me that when I become grandfather one day, we need to face it again .....

ha ha

I hinted to my kids be very careful and mindful next time before they have any children because a lot of "potential and awaiting nightmares" .... better have enough resources so one young parent can stay back home ( with or without domestic helpers ) or better still don't over stretched initially by getting big, expensive cars and houses then no matter what must depend on dual incomes, then if child comes along, likely the child may suffer without the parents ever knowing .....

Anonymous said...

My First Skool - Sack them all

The child abuser should be sacked for the obvious reason.
The rest of the school should be sacked for their silence.
Their silence means they consented and supported the abuse that was going on.
They are accomplices after the fact.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi Anon 9:59,

Very true and a very troubled area. Our society and lifestyle have been designed in such a way that both parents must work unless they are very rich. Most average or above average Sinkies have no choice. And the biggest sin goes to those who priced public housing according to two incomes and not because of the cost plus profit.

It has led to many other bad consequences and having parents leaving their children to strangers to care for is one of them. I too have heard many bad cases of abuses and even death of infants and toddlers.

We traded a better quality of life for materialism because of the philosophy of the govt. Now we have this spiralling property price that makes one income no longer a choice. It is between the devil and the deep blue sea and it is conscious decision making and policies of the govt.

Just keep the cost of living up and up by inflating property prices.

Anonymous said...

It is goooooooooooooooood!

Anonymous said...

Radioactive Tritium At Record High Levels In Fukushima Ground- And Sea-Water

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/07/07/national/tritium-soaring-in-water-at-no-1-plant/#.Udt0q20lG2D

Better keep monitoring the situation at Fukushima Nuclear Reactors.
- otherwise, the PAPigs will try and "sell" us on the benefits of nuclear energy for Singapore again

with their millions, they can run road to america.
and we will be stuck with a radioactive Singapore.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Childcare, pre school or even lower primary school are centres where the children are too young to really know what is right or wrong. In childcare and pre school, they are not there for an education but to be care for, to play and be happy.

You need caregivers who love children, who like playing with children, to be with them just to make sure they don't get into trouble. Adults who don't have such traits and who think they are there to discipline and ill treat children have no right to be caregivers.

What reason is there to discipline or punish children when they are there to play and to be care for?

Sheer madness in the head. Sickos.

Virgo 49 said...

Just back hour ago walking the dog. She loved to go near the child care centre at our multi-storey car park.


Noticed that one little boy always cry before entering the centre.

Already seven months into the year. Must have got used to the environment by now.

So are these tell-tale signs to the parents???

Hopefully they are not signals that he is been abused.

God forbids such acts

Anonymous said...

Its totally unacceptable.. we must look into d roots of the problem ... is it only hapen here or at other childcare ctrs ??? D roots isit under staffing or this staff r ft or watever ???
Make it mandatory all classroom put cameras n parents should able to view it ..
Any staff who caught child abuse must b put to jail ..
Recents incidents of maid abuse toddlers , caregivers abuse oldfolk at old fork hm .....
Where r we heading ?
All it boil down to that evil elements of $$$$$

Anonymous said...

RB,

That's why it is still relevant to have people trained in Economics in a decision making team .....

People like our late DPM Dr Goh Keng Swee ......

Because all these significant decisions are in economic terms scarcity and choices.

It may sound very insignificant and mundane until one is confronted with the HUGE OPPORTUNITY COSTS down the road when the clock cannot be turned back .....

Then, like the west, one day the only thing or option they have is to "pretend" coming out with "solutions" but actually the "so called solutions" are just band-aid measures "kicking the cans further down the road" .......

Anonymous said...

RB! Some more have to pay to get your kids abused. I was lucky that financially, I employed a maid to look after the home and my aunt to look after my kids. So two expenses but I have the peace of mind. Now that the kids have grown and enter the marriage age, I worry for their kids as now both husband and wife work still need 30 years to pay off the pigeon hole.

Anonymous said...

Sack the childcare staff and then what?

Please do not make baby if one cannot take care of it for at least 5 years.

Old folks home and childcare centres are concentration camps with euphimistic names. Perverted care centres is a more correct way to call them.

By the way, if parents themselves are not providing the best gor their creations; how to expect others(aliens) to do it? Only a moron thinks it is possible.

Anonymous said...

Whether in our govt polices or in daily life, it is possibly noticeable that many made early choices without really realising that they are probably short term beneficial but in the long run unsustainable and having a huge marginal external cost and marginal social cost.

In economic terms, these are called market failures or negative externalities. It exact an external cost which is not borne by the party doing it but other third parties not involved in it shouldered the costs in the long run...... just like smoking and pollution ..... non-smokers become passive smokers .....

There are many such instances in our decisions especially at the national level ......

There are many assumptions in Adam Smith's Price Mechanism Theory that need careful government policy choices to counter-balance its negative externalities ..... Inherently, many economies including ours are predominantly capitalist based but many people probably only see the good side of it without realising some of the long term fatal side effects .....

Mathematically, single-minded pursue of GDP growth is inherently good but in economic perspectives, there are huge opportunity costs ahead beyond certain points simply because there are many non-rivalry and non-excludable objectives that the market cannot provide or deal with left on its own.

The short term impact is huge economic gains but long term marginal external costs and social costs are probably even fatalistic. Many such costs are not realised initially if one is trained in Mathematics, engineering, medicine, law, etc because likely only the beneficial numbers are apparent and intangible negative externalities are transparent to their minds or thinking.

having some economics trained minds in the team might have allowed some robust discussions and potentially fatal long term mistakes avoided.

But I suppose at this stage a lot of things are moot liao because the "raw rice grains already cooked", how to revert back ......

Going forward, it may be just 30% policy gains and 70% OPPORTUNITY COSTS PAY BACK time ......

In short, the original decisions taken though yield tremendous short term results are unsustainable in the long run once the marginal external costs and negative externalities kick in .....

It is true on the individual level, it is true on the national level as well .....

Anonymous said...

Aiyoh, sack them can lah, but where to find better replacement?

Ask you. How many Sinkies want to work in child care centres or old folks home? Even if they want to, are they enough? Are they abusive?

So those working there are the best the child care centres can find what, even if they are abusive.

More seriously, if you vote PAP out, where to find better replacement?

Anonymous said...

It all boils down to who is best available to staff those child care centres. Or old folks homes.

You also cannot say can't find right staff, so no child care centres, tio bo?

Anonymous said...

All said, it is goooooooooooooooooooood!

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Send a team of officers to recruit more FTs for our childcare centres. Problem solved.

Anonymous said...

Well, life still need to go on .....

just like the haze problem, Singaporeans are strong and resilient and tough like nuts, not wimpy marshmallow or fragile pandas .....

Being a parent myself and dealing with all these problems the past donkey years, I suggest in the short term, young couples and parents of young kids keep a close eye on their young child/ children if they are in some kind of child care by strangers other than their close kins ......

Immediately, just like the haze crisis, relevant agencies can spring into action and like kee chiu said once implement "forward deployment" plan whatever he means by that ..... Incidentally, isn't kee chiu the one in charge of the relevant ministry so his military trainings , "forward deployment" plan and any other military useful/ relevant tactics/ strategies he has in his bags can be put into action or test or trial run ..... otherwise how to know he got the "liao" to become future 4th G PM, DPM or heavy weight minister, tio bo?

Now it's a golden opportunity presented to him to showcase his "2 stars" well-earned and crisis and problem solving skills ......

As for looking to best oppo for any idea/ solution, going forward better leave them alone otherwise again seen to be "smearing" or "bashing" them. If on line netizens think people should extend indefinite honey moon period to them and this is the best route to political maturity and plurality, then so be it. To me, in economic terms, this sounds like "trade protectionism" against competitors. One economic reason for doing it is so called to "protect infant industries" from outside competition.

To me it makes no sense in the long run but since netizens called for it, let say people like me would go along for now but I do not speak for other voters ......

Anonymous said...

@ July 09, 2013 11:28 am
/// More seriously, if you vote PAP out, where to find better replacement? ///

Aiyoh. You delusional or what?
How difficult is it to find better replacement for PAP?
The standard is so low nowadays.

Let's say redbean is the Prime Minister.
If he needs help with policy decision.
We just hire some United Nations experts to help him.
You mean Singapore is so big a country and is so complex to run ... and nobody but PAP know how to do it?
You read too many LKY fairy tales liao.

You think Singapore MRT train system is the largest in the world?
Is it even the largest in Asia?
Largest in ASEAN?
That is why our MRT is such a joke.
So small and yet so many cock-ups.

Anonymous said...

Heard they going big scale on infant care n childcare .... wonder their staffing can make it ... mayb rb can volunteer do the ft recruitment ...with his caring heart should able get lots caring caretakers ...but ensure cheap ok n not to make more money in d process ...my kids childcare cost me 1600 per mth per child ...more than my condo mortgage payment ... we cant go on like that ..can die one u know ...can replicate boon wans idea of masdively set up childcare in jb? I don mind if its fraction of wat i paying ....also can go there buy back cheap groceries n petrol etc ...

Anonymous said...

Wah anon 1.16 pm

The child care u sent your child "pa chio".

Bus driver monthly take home pay also around that figure only ......

U can rule out demand factor for the high child care service fees bcos every year TFR plummeting except dragon year ......

Where did the escalated cost come from? Or where the extra prices go into .....?

Lucky I had my kids a couple of years earlier .....

The rate u mentioned think roughly can hire about 4 maids ......

No prize for guessing another reason y TFR heading Southwards and unstoppable .....

Some years back when TFR was much higher, I predicted in an article that TFR likely reach 1.0 for Chinese couples and I believe likely it could be breached over next 3 years ....

I believe the next support level may be 0.5. Wonder how the face of our leaders would be when they have to face Singaporeans and tell them the hard truths of their failed policies ......

So better for them to pick themselves up from their complacencies and auto cruising mode now. Time to do some serious heavy lifting. Better implement some bazooka or shock and awe policies to reverse the trends otherwise many past leaders may need to repent in their graves ......

Anonymous said...

The best situation will be Sinkies no longer reproducing. Then can adopt the use and throw away policy. Always can get new Sinkies. There are 7b people out there to pick and choose from to become residents here.

Anonymous said...

Is this the only case? Probably not...

theonion said...

RB

You said all. Not just the one who is caught redhanded.

Have kids etc, does this mean that all those in that centre need to be removed without even a disciplinary hearing.

Your comments are not for justics ala Justice Bao but just rather more mob justice, the same as that let Heaven etc sort it out.

You would definitely fit right in during the Cultural revolution than

b said...

How come the minister in charge so quiet? Holidaying again?

RB, you are right. They should all be sacked, the entire school should be closed down, the directors should be sued and jailed ad given death penalty. An investigation must be setup to review all possibility of mishandling. We must treat such cases not as isolated but as serious offence so it will deter any occurrences. The abuser behavior is worse than any drug trafficker. The child is being hurt not only physically but also most importantly psychologically.

Anonymous said...

Sack the staff? I say close all the centres until the Regulating Body or NTUC is sure of fulfilling their obligations in providing good services.
Good services are not just beautiful wordings in brochures and reports. It has to be delivered as stated.
Failing to deliver accordingly is as good as bluffing and worse.

b said...

'More seriously, if you vote PAP out, where to find better replacement?'

- any tom, dick, harry, donkey or monkey is a better replacement. is pap really any good for most people? any thing they have not screwed up yet?

Anonymous said...

RB,

Seriously, nowadays its so tough for young couples to juggle full time job and raising a family.

Child care is so prohibitively costly ......

Housing prices are so inflated ......

Car prices are near historical high ......

Every month the mortgages, child care fees, car maintenance fees, renovation loan etc etc.

The younger generation really suffering multiple whammies in one go ......

During our time, never kanna any QE, LTRO, foreign influx, MRT breakdown, financial tsunami, $1,000,000 public flats, etc etc ..........

Think down the road, may have elevated social problems and dysfunctional family units ....... likely more smoking problems, more drinking problems, more drug abuses, mote gambling problems, more attempted suicides, more broken marriages and family units, more delinquents, more single parents, more abandoned aged and poor, more bankrupted property multi-millionaires turn taxi drivers, more mentally ill, ...... etc etc



Anonymous said...

Any lizard, cockroach, leech, snake or insect is a better replacement.

There is nothing that they have not screwed up.

All the fucking nonsense starting with housing, transport, education and healthcare are all fucked up.

Where in the world do you find so much nonsense with taxi fare system? All kinds of surcharges and restrictions and yet taxis are avoiding fares for one reason or another. Where in the world do you find so much nonsense with the education system? Admission nonsense, streaming, normal stream, abnormal stream, WTF. Where in the world do you find so much contradictions in the setting of housing policies? One day the minister tells you they are buiding more houses, the next day they say the reverse.

The list goes on.

Anonymous said...

@ July 09, 2013 11:28 am
/// More seriously, if you vote PAP out, where to find better replacement? ///

Are they the best available cronies?
Or are they the best available talents?
What do you think?

Virgo49 said...

Hi Anon @11.28

Right you are!!!

Think no capable people other than the PAP??

Last time Dr Goh Keng Swee also invited Dr Winxxxxxx (too chim for me) to help them with the economic solutions.

Think no capable people. In time of crisis, many many capable people will surface to hold the fort.

Dont you worry

Cheers

Anonymous said...

Do you know that childcares has the right to turn your child away if they deem they cannot handle, even after they have said they can and had accepted your registration fees.

Anonymous said...

For most young Singaporeans in the current generation, in many ways they are the products of the system .....

More specifically the products of the education system and the value system in our society .....

It is always a trade off in the economic sense. A basic concept in economics of scarcity and choice but nonetheless alarmingly true in moulding or training of individuals from toddlers to young working adults over the span of twenty years or so or about a generation .....

Indisputably the finished products of such a system are fairly well disciplined, knowledgeable and fairly competent in their fields and in short valuable and productive members in a knowledge based economy.

The missing ingredient, critical factor or skill sets ( whatever one wants to call or coin or term it ) in such a productive and competent current and future generation of our society and economy is the capacity and ability to reproduce themselves sufficiently in numbers while performing their economic functions.

It seems that our first generation leaders may have overlooked this area and did not specify this quality in the "design" of the system and the intended finished products .....

The regrettable outcome of such an almost perfect social engineering is that the original population cannot regenerate and sustain itself sufficiently.

Thus the next best policy option of imports of "foreign babies" to make up for the short fall.

The intended objective was probably not communicated and articulated sufficiently to the original population.

It was also kind of made worst by what is seen as indiscriminate, rather blanket wholesale importation and inevitably some discriminatory employment practices against the original population by the new arrivals.

It was not helped by some and gradually increasing numbers of the new arrivals attitudes and dispositions that they are the new masters of this land and starting to behave so, to the huge disgust, distaste, disdain, displeasure and disbelief of the original population.

How can it be so? The original population went through shit not just from the day they are born but even before they are born when they are still in the womb. This is not an exaggeration given how and what my wife and kids went through during the pregnancy stage. In short, the locally born Singaporeans, their parents and grand parents did all the heavy lifting to forge this place almost from scratch until this stage. How could the authority be so silly to invite the guests into the house and replace the original rightful owners in their own land. Understandably, "all hell break loose" and a big section of the electorates are severely disenchanted with the ruling party and generally non supportive of the government subconsciously.

The authority could have played an active role in this aspect of preventing such a friction and misunderstanding from developing and growing but fail to detect it early and take corrective measures until it was too late.

It was in a way an almost perfect workable second option but it is a pity that the important aspect of implementing option number 2 was not probably supervised and overseen by a zealous, on the ball and far sighted member of the team.

The rest is history ......

Nonetheless, as a home grown Singaporean, I wishfully and still hopefully pray in my heart that all would turn out well in the end.

At least when our dear founding PM eventually leaves us, he can do so with minimum worries ......

At least he deserved so for his contributions. Nobody or amount of words can deny this fact.

Nobody is perfect in this world.

Ask ourselves this simple question: Is there such a thing as a fish without bones?

God had made fish to be like that.

The only thing awaiting us every day is this urgent and monumental task of making this place call Singapore work and be sustainable in the long run.

Anonymous said...

/// The only thing awaiting us every day is this urgent and monumental task of making this place call Singapore work and be sustainable in the long run. ///

First step is to vote in more Opposition MPs in GE 2016.
Isn't it obvious?
Don't you think Lee Kuan Yew has failed to groom a capable team to take over from him when he departs from this world?

agongkia said...

Please lah.Instead of blaming the teacher or care givers why not blame the parents?
Putting a 3 year old kid under the care of a stranger is like putting your love one in the jungle ,knowing there are snakes or tiger there.
Parent should be charge for mishandling their babies if they do not even know who are the people taking care of their babies.
I doubt the parent had met that stranger.
Even adults have fear when being approach by someone whose body is covered,not to mention a 3 year old.
I urge parent to reconsider if they want to dump their babies below 5 years old to strangers.
On behalf on those toddlers,I beg,tolong,please,help,kew mia....
Give them proper love.Carry them more,you may not have the chance to carry them when they grow older.
Wake up Sinkies...and dun give any more reason that money not enough and both parent need to work.Those who produce babies must carry their own babies.No lame excuses.

Anonymous said...

Since many young women coming out of the education system lack the core skills, motivation and incentives to raise at least a family of two and ensure a good, holistic upbringing, should our society encourage the guys instead to take over the role to be the bread winner and at the same time oversee and carry out the duties of bringing up their off spring? Then, just leave the young wives and mothers to do whatever they want in their careers, interests etc? Would it work?

Anonymous said...

Trade Off of Our Education System:

- Neglect of many basic skills due to over academic emphasis. ( Probably predominantly the fault of the 2nd G leaders ) True or false?

- Due to economic trade off of choice. Scarcity is an inescapable reality and universal truth. Most people of the X and Y generation especially the Y and Z generation grow up or would grow up to be lacking in basic skills to raise their family. Many thus got stuck with one or zero offspring. And even then, those with one kid face huge problems in giving their kid a proper holistic upbringing. true or false?

- Under or zero emphasis on educating the young on life skills and values. True or false?

- Many young mothers nowadays can barely cope with the care and upbringing of just even one child. True or false?

- Frankly our society is created in such a way there is no lack of affordable and reasonable food to satisfy our basic needs on a daily basis. Does it mean then that a young family unit need not have any member in it possessing the skills to do a decent meal or some basic cooking skills? How about when someone fall sick? Would the skill come in handy? How about family bonding? Would the skill come in handy? Etc etc .....?? True or false?

Anonymous said...

Mountains are being made out of ant hills. Attentions seekers seem to be having a field day. There are idiots along the way, but not every one is.

Anonymous said...

@anon2.07pm

Is dat d type of lojic gahmin hv? No wonder sin city getting more mess n messier! Here majority unidentified so how to get attention? Secondni, u term a presch care giver breaking a 3 yr old leg ant hill matter? Again million $€£¥$€£¥ lojic? Yes, Bloggers are having a field day laughing at sickos' lojic! There are bloggers along the way, but one idiot obviously isn't! No prize guessing who dat idiot is!

theonion said...

RB

the other side of the story

please see the Singapore daily
In the first case, the video highlighted, only 1 part is shown, supposedly the child is always bullying other kids and being physical with other kids.


RB

You are definitely not viewing both sides of the story even for such a non political story.

The culture to be corrected from your clarion call should be here rather than at the school.

No wonder the other kids did not say anything.

Yes, the kid should not be hurt but basically speaking now unsure if the whole story from the start

You do not even give others the grace of a disciplinary hearing





Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

the onion, are you saying that fracturing the leg of a 3 year old child because he bullied other children is acceptable?

You also did not see the full video when the teacher was slapping the boy several times.

Children at that age did not know what is right or wrong. Adults do. Adults that do not have the temperament to look after children must not be allowed to take care of children.

theonion said...

Redbean

I stated that the kid should not be hurt.
Did i say it was right to fracture, you are putting words where there are none.

I have seen the whole video and if you were to view on frame by frame analysis in totality, there are now 2 viewpoints, as you like to say, but do not do.

The teacher responsible should be judged in due accord within the whole frame.

I take issue with you on the presumption used that the other kids did not know the behaviour as well as stating the whole school staff be removed without even a hearing.

Since you are so wise, why do you not start your own prescool which can be overbooked by your fan club. Satisfying both fans and silencing to your satisfaction any detractors