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A relief teacher at a secondary school in Singapore was dismissed for not being "proactive" after a fight broke out in her class.

Celine Chia, 25, shared her experience in an Instagram post on Oct. 3.

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A post shared by Celine Chia (@celinechiaacookiemonster)

Background

The fight, which Chia described as "minor", took place on Sep. 21 between two Secondary 1 boys.

One of the boys has special needs and requires more attention, Chia told Mothership.

Although she was "shocked", she followed up by reprimanding the boys and getting the class chair to report the incident to their form teacher.

"The whole incident lasted less than five minutes, and the class was back to normal after," she wrote in her Instagram post.

None of the students were hurt in the incident.

"Unprofessional" behaviour

The next day, Chia received a call from the school's discipline mistress, whom she calls "Ms A".

Ms A informed Chia that after reviewing the CCTV footage and speaking to the principal, the school leadership had decided to terminate Chia's contract.

The discipline mistress told her that it was because she had been "unprofessional" and lacking proaction during the incident, Chia, who has worked at the school for a year, claimed.

Ms A explained that it appeared based on the CCTV footage that Chia had not done anything to stop the fight, as she had remained seated during the altercation.

"And of course, CCTV couldn't capture sound," Chia wrote.

She also quoted Ms A as saying, "It is also hard for them [the school] to explain to the parents."

Requested a meeting

Chia said that she had sincerely apologised for not handling the situation in the best possible way, and requested a meeting to "iron things out".

Till today, she has reportedly still not received any updates from the school— "not even a text or call"—regarding her request.

"My message to ask for an update from the school was left on read, and they removed me from the school chat without giving me a heads-up or notifying me," she said in response to Mothership's queries.

She added that she had not been given written notice of her termination.

No SOP given in the first place

Chia acknowledged that she might not have reacted to the fight in the "best possible way", but pointed out that relief teachers do not receive proper training on how to handle fights in class.

"There wasn't any SOP (standard operating procedure) given to us to start with," she added in her post.

She also criticised the school for dismissing her through a phone call without allowing her to share her side of the story in person and alleged that she was being made "a scapegoat" for the incident.

"At this point, it is not about the job/money that bugs me, but rather how things were mishandled. This can happen to not just me but anyone, which can be humiliating."

Speaking to Mothership, Chia elaborated that she also upset at the nature of her dismissal because she had taken on duties outside her job scope, at the school's request.

This involved taking over a secondary two class for more than a month right before their examinations.

"I felt that I have done a lot (way more than a relief teacher should have) to help the students’ work, which is why I felt very wronged when they dismissed me because of that incident, and the school didn’t bother to protect their staff," she said.

MOE aware

Responding to queries from Mothership, a Ministry of Education spokesperson said that it was aware of a social media post by a relief educator regarding the termination of her contract.

"The school will be engaging the educator," said the spokesperson.

Mothership has reached out to the school for more information and will update this article when they reply.

Top image from Celine Chia's Instagram and MChe Lee/Unsplash