MOE gives detailed timeline to Sengkang Green bullying case

On Aug. 14, 2025, a mother penned an open letter on Facebook detailing how her daughter had been bullied in school.

Yin said she first discovered the alleged bullying on Jul. 24.

In response to media queries, the school said the students who made the calls and threats were immediately suspended from school, and have also undergone counselling.

The school also said it has engaged with the parents of three students regarding their actions.

However, the school said that its investigations found the affected student had " also engaged in hurtful behaviours".

A point the mother questioned in her subsequent Facebook post.

Upon reading the school's statement in the media, Yin said she was "shocked" to read that the school claimed her daughter "had also engaged in inappropriate behaviour that harmed others".

Yin asked for the school to provide all evidence of such claims and said that if her daughter did misbehave, she would not cover it up.

In addition, she questioned why the school did not inform her of such issues with her daughter, claiming that withholding such information deprives the parents of the chance to "educate and guide our child in a timely manner".

MOE's statement

In an Aug. 20 Facebook post, MOE responded to the case of bullying.

In their post, they said they do not condone bullying and all forms of hurtful behaviour.

"We take reports about bullying seriously and our educators attend to them, by gathering facts and meting out necessary disciplinary consequences in a timely manner."

They noted that in managing such cases, schools adopt an "educative and restorative approach" paired with appropriate disciplinary measures to "correct misbehaviour and reinforce the right values".

They further said that given the severity of the allegations, they decided to make public the "facts of this case".

MOE said this was to address the allegations made by the girl's mother that the school had been "remiss" in handling the incident.

They said that for each reported incident, the school had addressed the actions of the students involved in a "timely manner", including caning when necessary, while seeking to "restore friendships and help the children to learn and grow".

They said the affected student had "herself engaged in hurtful behaviour on some occasions", and the school had handled these episodes in an even-handed manner.

For the incident involving the threats, the school immediately suspended the three students involved, the school will also mete out further disciplinary consequences, including caning.

The school will also continue to work with the parents of these students to "learn from their actions".

Engaged with parents

MOE said that the school engaged the parents of the students on various occasions and informed them of the action taken, and safety plan for the affected student.

On Aug. 14, the school made arrangements to meet the affected student’s parents on Aug. 18 to update them on the actions taken and steps to support the student’s return to school.

MOE said the parent took to social media on Aug. 15 and 16, before the meeting could take place, to make allegations that the school "had not taken any action and had not put in place any safety plan".

The meeting originally scheduled for Aug. 18 has since taken place over four hours.

MOE said the school ran through the full sequence of events with the parents of the affected student, including the hurtful behaviours that the affected student had engaged in.

The parents agreed to work with the school to have their child return to the current school with the enhanced safety plan in place, without further request for a school transfer.

MOE emphasised they understand the anxieties of parents whose children "may be affected by hurtful behaviour", and urged parents to work closely with the school to support their child’s well-being.

They said that when parents choose to publicise a "dramatised, one-sided account on social media, it causes further emotional distress for their children and hinders school efforts to rehabilitate and reconcile".

MOE said that in this case, it has also led to online attacks and doxxing of their educators and young children, they said these are bullying behaviours and send a wrong signal to children on what appropriate behaviour looks like.

MOE ended off the post by saying they care for the well-being of all their "students and educators", and where necessary, they will take firm action, in accordance with their Engagement Charter, to safeguard the well-being of their staff.

Timeline

Here's MOE's entire timeline of the incident:

• End-April: The affected student reported student A for using an offensive slur on her and another classmate. As the affected student had also used an offensive slur on student A, the form teacher facilitated a verbal apology between the students involved for using bad language.

• Mid-July: The affected student verbally requested for her form teacher to change her seat. The teacher decided to monitor the situation after receiving this request, as he observed that the affected student was talking and laughing with students A and B.

• Jul. 25, Friday: The affected student again requested for her form teacher to change her seat, as student A and B’s chatter made it difficult for her to focus during lessons. She also said that the two students had used inappropriate language on her, and that student C had touched her face without consent. As she had admitted to using inappropriate language on students A and B, the three students were guided to apologise to each other and focus on mending their friendship.

Later in the day, the form teacher informed the affected student that he had engaged her parent and would change her seat the following Monday. He would also look into her feedback regarding student C.

• Jul. 26, Saturday: The affected student’s mother reported to the school that she had received prank calls and death threats.

• Jul. 28, Monday: The school pulled students A, B and C out from class. Based on the school’s checks, student A had obtained the mobile number from his parent. Students A, B and C had made multiple prank calls to the parent of the affected student, with student C sending audio messages threatening the parent and her family. The school reprimanded all three students and informed their parents that they would be suspended from school immediately.

That same morning, the Vice Principal met the affected student’s parents to inform them about the actions that had been taken by the school, including a change of seat to separate her from the three students, and future plans to conduct bag checks after they had served their suspension. The Vice Principal also spoke to the affected student’s parents on the telephone in the evening to share plans to assign peers to accompany the student in school. The safety plan was sent via email to the parents on 31 July.

As the affected student’s parents had made a police report on the death threats, the school assured them that the school would review and take additional disciplinary actions, which may include caning, after police has looked into the matter.

• Jul. 30, Wednesday: The affected student informed the form teacher that a classmate had sprayed water on her. Investigations conducted by the teacher established that this was after the affected student had used hurtful words on the classmate, including a racial slur to a classmate of another race, and telling others not to befriend the classmate.

The classmate then sprayed water in retaliation. Both were counselled for their actions. The classmate’s parent was informed of the incident, and the school had planned to share this with the affected student’s parents at a face-to-face meeting.

• Aug. 7, Thursday: School was informed of a bruise on the affected student. The school established that student C had swung his bag into the affected student during school dismissal. CCTV footage showed that the teacher present was managing another group of students and did not witness the incident, and no student had approached the teacher to alert him of the incident. Following investigations, the school engaged student C’s parents. Student C was subsequently caned on Aug. 12.

• Aug. 14, Thursday: School arranged to meet the affected student’s parents on Aug. 18 to update them on the actions taken and steps to support the student’s return to school.

• Aug. 15, Friday to Aug. 16, Saturday: Parents made her allegations on social media.

Here's the Facebook post:

Image from Google