Mum in Singapore takes preschool to court for negligence, claims teachers chat or use phones instead of watching students
SINGAPORE: A local preschool is being sued by a mother after her son was pushed off a slide during a play period indoors. She claims that instead of watching the students, the teachers were on their phones or chatting with one another.
The woman also alleged that there were no mats under the play equipment at the time of the incident involving her son, according to reporting from CNA.
Due to a strict gag order, the identity of the mother and her child may not be published, nor can the name and address of a preschool be identified.
The trial, which began on Sept 7, is ongoing at Singapore’s State Courts.
The backstory
The incident occurred on Jul 12, 2024, when the woman’s son, now six, was just four years old.
The mum showed a total of four video clips as proof of her claims. Two of the videos show the boy with another boy, with whom he bumped head-on. According to the woman, her son said he was in pain after the collision, but the teachers did not even know about it.
The same boy allegedly pushed the woman’s son off the slide, which is 75 cm high, not once but twice. The first time he was pushed, he got up again. The second time, however, occurred at the top of the slide, where the other boy was sitting.
When the other boy pushed the woman’s son, he fell from the top step, using his hand to break his fall, and just missed another child who was riding a tricycle in the same place where he fell.
The boy’s hand was injured due to his fall.
CNA noted that when the clip of the boy falling from the slide was shown, it brought his parents to tears.
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The other two videos the mum presented involved other children. One showed a little girl standing at the top of the slide, and the other showed another girl who bumped her head on the wall. However, this was only noticed when she cried, and the mum claimed that the teachers were "really distracted, both looking at their phones at the same time.” /TISG