Are our students so broke that they have to resort to stealing from donation tins?

A reader wrote in to STOMP saying that she saw a Temasek Secondary boy "digging and shaking (a) donation can upside-down" with a wire in his attempt to take out coins from a donation tin.

The boy in question was part of a team from the school that had been raising funds for the President's Challenge via street-selling.

So was the boy really stealing from the donation tin?

In his letter of apology published in the citizen journalism site, he said that he was trying to fish the coins out just for fun because he felt bored and had nothing to do while waiting for his friends.

He then used a green straw that a friend had left behind to fiddle with the tin to see if any coin would drop out.

A twenty cent coin did drop out but the student placed the coin back into the tin as his "intention was not to steal".

The principal of Temasek Secondary has also said that the school is deeply saddened by the incident as it has "marred the noble intention of a very worthy subject" - the raising of funds for the President's Challenge over the past few years.

Nonetheless, the school has also asserted that the teen had no intention of stealing from the tin.

It has also spoken to him and asked for his reflections.

The student has since realised the error of his ways.

"I sincerely want to apologise to my school, the participating organisations, and all who have helped out in this street selling to raise funds for the needy.

"My actions have indeed caused a great misunderstanding and generated mistrust in the eyes of the public of attempts at fund-raising.

"I now know better to be careful with how I handle the donation tin.

"It was truly a big misinterpretation of my foolish action. I am sorry."

In our last report, we wrongly stated that the student was from Temasek Junior College.

We apologise for the error.