Dear Madam
Teacher Harasses Student
We refer to your letter dated 28 Oct to Rear-Adm Teo Chee Hean. Minister of Education.
2 We have spoken to Mr Mohd Said b Ja'afar, the Principal of Chai Chee Secondary School about your concern for your ward's education in the school. He has looked into the matter and would be taking the necessary measures.
3 The Principal has indicated that he would like to meet you and discuss ways in which the school could collaborate with you to help your ward further in her schooling. Please do contact the school to arrange for a suitable date and time to meet with the Principal.
Yours faithfully
Wong Sher Ling (Miss)
Executive Officer, Schools East
Schools Division
for Permanent Secretary (Education)
cc Principal, Chai Chee Secondary School
**************************oooOooo************************
My husband and I met Mr Mohd Ja'afar and the then acting vice-principal Mr Ong. Excuses were made by the Principal for the teacher's behaviour and his non-action. He tried to push away his responsibility as much as he could. The Principal suggested getting the school counselor to befriend Xiaoran and helped her to adapt to the school life.
Talk cock. Nothing was done. Xiaoran was promoted to Secondary 2, she had a new form teacher who was reasonable. When Ms Loh saw Xiaoran one day, she remarked sarcastically,"You looked okay wat. Where got stress and depression!?" grrrrr........
End of the year, I purposely requested for a report from the school counselor and Principal........
........./ Page 5
Yeah, when it's bad news, everyone wants to pass the buck. Can you imagine when it's good news? Say, Xiaoran has won the IMF International Civics Project, and has to go to Geneva to receive a €750,000.00 Prize Cheque for the School?
ReplyDeletelb,
ReplyDeletehahaha.... yeah.
I bet the some high-ranking official would want to pat her shoulder, posed for media photos and be in all the papers! :)
aiseyyy... they must be very good at taichi, by the way the taichi away all the responsibilities!
ReplyDeleteMay,
ReplyDeleteYes, our civil serpents are well-known to be kiasu, kiasi!
Good things, they take credit. Bad things they hide in their shells.
Really 吐血！
ReplyDeleteI agree with L B though.
If Xiaoran is some 高材生 and performed outstandingly in some international competitions on her own, I dare bet that principal would very like to "share" her limelight. Pah!
day-dreamer,
ReplyDeleteOh yes. Definitely these people would. :)
Can bitch slap that Ms Loh or not..??
ReplyDeletemamabok,
ReplyDeleteCannot touch her. We will set bad example for the students. :)
Sometimes I wonder if our society has moved faster than we can catch up?
ReplyDeleteIf people can learn to be kind and understanding to each other in the first place, maybe there weren't be a need for complaint to be made, and for all these bureaucratic ways of politically handling similar matter.
I suppose the most complex task on Earth is to educate people to be more caring, more understanding, more kind in the first place?
hi! it's admirable, what you are doing for your ward. to offer your home to someone is already generous enough and to go one step further - esp since she's a young girl is really great. kudos to you :)
ReplyDeleteoceanskies,
ReplyDeleteIt won't happen in Singapore. With our leaders pushing us so hard to excel in everything, everyone's morphing into monsters.
Did you read the papers lately? More Singaporeans are getting violent. They are beating up people over small matters. Stress? Too much exposure to violent movies or gaming？I have no answers.
Nobody cares anyway. It's so sad.
I don't have the answer either. That's why I ask for wisdom...but that has to be acquired.
ReplyDeleteEducation is one thing. Perhaps the culture and environment has to be supportive as well.
I find it harder for me to practise being patient when I am feeling too overwhelmed.
I guess it helps when someone irritates me, I tell myself maybe the person was too overwhelmed to be patient and/or kind.
Perhaps our definition of success has to be relooked at.
oceanskies,
ReplyDeleteNo one has patience these days. Every one's in a rush. They want so many As in their report cards and many Cs in material possesions. So what if they earn the whole world?
I just don't want to bother with people who don't concern me. I already have my hands full with the people I love and respect.
I feel very tired. It's easier to sunff out those bad hats than reason with them.
Hi Tracy!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see you!
I'm really so embarrassed becos I let the parents down. I should have more backbone then. I should have done much more..... my bad.
Merry-go-around hey! It seems there was no point to see the headteacher at all when he didn't want to take the responsibility. At least the girl did not go back to China and carried on her studies. If I were her with a bit of the gut, I would say say something back to that bitch teacher and made her felt embarrass.
ReplyDeleteMay you find success in doing you think is necessary. It sounds a challenging endeavour.
ReplyDeletePardon me, I guess my mind is more keen to look at the roots of the issue than to address symptoms. Though I do acknowledge it probably ends up to be a vision waiting to be realised.
Take care. Hey, let off some steam ok? Too much anger can be harmful to our health.
windy,
ReplyDeleteXiaoran was too timid. I think that was why the teacher kept picking on her. She dared not fight back. Nowadays young girls are quite vocal. They might beat up the teacher. haha....
oceanskies,
ReplyDeletehaha.... yes. I will let off steam by practising my chopping skills!
Thanks oceanskies for listening to my rants. :)
My pleasure.
ReplyDeleteGosh, i need to curb this blogging addiction. :P
oceanskies,
ReplyDeleteOnce addicted to blogging, very difficult lah. ;P
What numerous of excuses - must actually been embarrassing for them!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you stand up for your rights!
I'm not defending MOE nor do I condone the behaviour of the school or teacher. I do understand in general how the civil service works. They usually would decentralise such cases to the school principal as it's supposed to be the pricipal's responsibility to handle.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure with hundreds of schools and thousands of students, there are bound to have complaints big or small. If MOE is to deal with each and every of such cases, they would be overwhelmed and probably you would have to wait for months before the case is being dealt with (something like having to wait for months or years for court hearing proceedings).
Exception to this would probably be something that is picked up by the media.
Already the principal "bo bian" had to see you when he received the letter from MOE. Usually, they would not only hear your side of the story but would also seek comments from the teacher involved.
I think if you're threatened in any way, it's probably best to report to the police to seek protection.
Hi Renny,
ReplyDeleteYes, they have lots of excuses. Even though they are wrong, the civil service would never apologise. They are afraid of being sued or losing face, I guess. Not a good example for the citizens though.
rina,
ReplyDeleteThere are details which I didn't post here, it's in my book.
I won't waste time making a police report. I will be posting the experiences I have with our police force when I tried to make reports.
gahmen body where not not afraid malu one. That miss loh is terrible, this kind of people should be condemned and banned from the society. Thankfully I didn't study in that school with her as my teacher. I bet she surely have other issues with other students. I wonder, nothing happenned to her?
ReplyDeleteeugenemon,
ReplyDeleteMOE said they have strict criteria
for recruiting teachers. This is where I differ.
She left the school, the principal said she went for course.
Went for course? Go and never come back!-> directed at a particular Ms Loh. LOL...
ReplyDeletebtw, did u ever write all these in ST forum before? Or u have bad encounter with them too?
kev,
ReplyDeleteI did send my letters to ST Forum and also called their hotline. Their reporter came to interview me and decided not to publish.
New Paper did publish part of the False Declaration story but there was a twist to it. :)