Following her arrest on Sunday for mistreating a three-year-old boy, a part-time teacher at NTUC My First Skool was sacked "with immediate effect" yesterday.
A spokesman for NTUC First Campus (NFC), which manages the childcare centre where the boy was allegedly abused, said a panel was convened yesterday morning to let the 51-year-old teacher, who allegedly dragged the boy across the floor before lifting and dropping him twice on Friday, explain what had happened.
The teacher has since "acknowledged that her actions were inappropriate and has accepted the dismissal", the spokesman said.
NFC chief executive officer Chan Tee Seng and My First Skool general manager Adeline Tan also met a group of parents from the playgroup class yesterday to "answer queries and to address their concerns", said the spokesman.
Police reports
The meeting was part of the measures put in place after the incident to "ensure a high level of care" is maintained at the centre, which is NFC's pioneer childcare arm.
During the session, it was revealed that two other parents have filed police reports about the abuse of their children, NFC said.
The early childhood care and education service provider assured parents that "it will fully cooperate with the police in these investigations".
Other measures include planning additional parent-engagement sessions, deploying senior early childhood specialists from NFC headquarters to support the teachers in the playgroup class and engaging professional counsellors to provide emotional support to staff who have been affected by the incident, said the spokesman.
The three-year-old's mother told The New Paper that the teacher's dismissal was "not enough".
"It's a social responsibility to ensure that she does not teach anywhere so the same thing won't happen again."
She took her son, who suffered a hairline fracture on his shin bone from the alleged rough treatment, back to KK Women's and Children's Hospital yesterday, as he has been in pain since Sunday.
"I have been feeling helpless... I needed the extra assistance, the professional help and the doctor's opinion," she said.
The former childcare teacher is out on bail pending investigations, the police said.
Under the Child Care Centres Regulations, no corporal punishment is allowed. This includes striking a child, directly or with any physical objects, and shaking, shoving, spanking or other forms of aggressive contact.
Childcare staff also cannot discipline a child with harsh, humiliating, belittling or degrading responses of any kind, deprive them of meals, isolate and physical restrict them.
The penalty for infringing the regulations is a fine of up to $2,000.