Mother questions student care’s priorities after son’s glasses allegedly get thrown: ‘On the dustbin or in the dustbin got diff meh?’
A seven-year-old child was allegedly slapped by another student at a student care centre before his glasses were thrown, though the principal later clarified that the glasses had landed on top of — rather than inside — a dustbin.
Simbian Chua, the 34-year-old founder of Century Bakkwa who won praise for her humorous response to a fire that broke out at her shop in February, said in a now-deleted post that her son was being bullied in a student care centre.
In her video, Ms Chua said she contacted the teacher to obtain details about the incident, and received a video of her son the following day, in which the principal had allegedly asked the boy to recount the incident.
“You see, the bully didn’t throw your glasses in the dustbin. He just threw the glasses on the dustbin,” Ms Chua says, recalling what the principal had allegedly said.
“Bully throw glasses on the dustbin or in the dustbin got diff meh? Dustbin is dustbin,” she wrote in the caption.
‘Don’t say inside the dustbin’: Mother shares recording of interaction
In a follow-up post, Ms Chua shared an audio recording of the principal clarifying what happened between the pupils.
The principal is heard asking whether it was true that the boy’s glasses had been thrown “inside the dustbin”.
A child says he had thrown the glasses on top of the dustbin as it was full, while another remarked that it was still dirty.
“It’s totally different. It’s fine, throw is wrong, but you don’t say inside the dustbin,” the principal says.
In the caption, Ms Chua added that her son had said he was slapped before his glasses were thrown, noting that the teacher appeared concerned that her son “didn’t explain clearly where the glasses ended up”.
“Does it really change what happened? A child was still slapped. His glasses were still thrown,” Ms Chua wrote.
“If the only thing we’re correcting is the location of the glasses, and not the fact that this even happened… then something feels very off.”
‘My son was basically interrogated’
Speaking to Stomp, Ms Chua said the incident occurred at her son’s student care centre in Orchard on April 16. She added that her son said he did not wish to return to the centre after the incident.
Ms Chua had also spoken to the principal, alleging that her son had been “gaslighted” into believing that he had not been bullied.
“I told him he’s not wrong. Even if the glasses land on Mars, his ‘friend’ also has no right to slap him or take them,” Ms Chua said.
Ms Chua said she ultimately decided not to pursue the matter, as she was concerned the student care centre might treat her son differently if she did.
In a video provided by Ms Chua, an adult can be heard telling her son that it was “wrong” to state that the glasses landed inside the dustbin rather than on top of it.
The adult also addresses the other pupil, asking why they did it and explaining that such behaviour was not allowed.
“(My son) was basically interrogated. It is very painful to watch,” Ms Chua said, adding that she had hoped to be informed of the incident by the centre before hearing about it from her son.
At the same time, she acknowledged that the student care centre had also disciplined the other child involved in the dispute.
“It’s not very healthy to put everything on the teachers,” she conceded.
“There are 365 days in a year, and five days my son got daiji (issues). But that doesn’t take away the 360 days of good work that the teachers have done for my son,” she concluded.
‘Not addressing the actual issue’: Netizens react
Ms Chua’s initial post garnered over 238,500 views, while her subsequent post drew over 52,000 views.
Some netizens took issue with the teacher’s response, saying that it was “unfair” and lacking empathy.
“This is serious. The teacher is not addressing the actual issue here — conflict in class,” one netizen commented.
Another agreed: “Honestly inside or on top, it still doesn’t justify why the bully throw his glasses.”
Others called for consideration of “both sides of the story”, suggesting that the pupils might have been playing rough when the incident occurred.
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