Coral Sec's principal ought to be shot!

[metalslug]

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,191705,00.html?

School bars students from mall - but is ban working?
Some teens moved to defy rule; parents upset as well
February 04, 2009

STRICT: A Coral Secondary teacher talking to a student at a HDB void deck near the school, which banned students from loitering anywhere after school while in uniform. TNP PICTURE: JULIAN LEE

HE LOOKS around carefully, his legs tensed and ready to run.

The coast seems clear, and his friends nod their confirmation.

He dashes into McDonald's, and emerges 10 minutes later, clutching takeaway bags in triumph.

His friends cheer, and they move off swiftly, not looking back.

The boy has just committed an offence.

But it's not against the fast-food outlet - it's against his school.

Coral Secondary School forbids any student in uniform from entering the nearby White Sands shopping mall in Pasir Ris, among other things.

The rule, which was imposed several years ago, also forbids students in uniform from hanging out at the neighbouring housing estate.

WHY NOT LET THEM BE? Not all schools are as strict - our photographer visited Bishan Junction 8 yesterday and saw many students in uniform wandering around the shopping centre freely and without fear. TNP PICTURE: KELVIN CHNG

The boy told The New Paper: 'I'm not supposed to go to White Sands at all, unless I want to go to the library after school.

'Even then, I can go only after I fill in a form and get it approved by the Discipline Mistress or Operations Manager.'

And then he pointed to the school handbook, which has an extract from the school's rule book.

It states that the school has banned its students in uniform from loitering anywhere after school.

It expects the students to go home straight from school.

Only library okay

It wants them to 'stay away from White Sands Shopping Mall at all times except to visit the community library after school after seeking approval from HOD/Student Management, Operations Manager, Vice-Principal or Principal'.

When asked to comment on the rule, principal Veronica Ng responded through Madam Kathleen Ch'ng, the head of the department of student management: 'Coral Secondary places much emphasis on inculcating in our students good habits like using time prudently.

'As such, it is in their interest not to loiter in the malls after school.'

But many students are not too pleased about this.

Said one Sec 3 student: 'It's crazy. Some of us don't have lunch at home. We have to eat outside, but we're not allowed to eat at White Sands.

'We're not even allowed to just go in there to buy food to take home with us.'

A Sec 2 student said that even her teacher did not see the logic behind such a rule.

Her classmate added: 'Other students get to hang out here after school. Why can't we?'

The school is so serious about the rule that it assigns teachers to patrol the shopping mall and neighbouring areas after school.

Offenders are sent for a two-hour detention.

And sometimes even the innocent get caught.

Said a Sec 2 student: 'One of my friends, who waits for her mother near the shopping mall after school every day, almost got a detention.

'She was saved by a bunch of classmates who explained to the operations manager.'

Some parents are also upset by this rule.

Said the mother of a Sec 2 student: 'I was told that my daughter had to go home and change out of her uniform before she can buy lunch at White Sands.

'So instead of buying lunch and going home, she has to go home to change, then go out to buy lunch and go home again.'

Family lunch impossible

A father was particularly riled that he couldn't even have lunch with his daughter in peace.

'It's just stupid. The teachers don't seem to care that students may be with their parents. So I have to keep watching out for teachers, or my daughter may get caught.'

But many students are resigned to the strict regulation.

As another Sec 2 student put it: 'My mother tells me to just be careful and don't get caught.'

One parent, whose son left the school three years ago, said: 'No choice lah, just tolerate for four years and be done with it.'

Said a Sec 4 student: 'I don't really care any more. If I get caught again, I'll just go for detention again. It's no big deal.'

Teachers are also posted to the housing estate near the school to prevent students from loitering there.

A Sec 2 pupil said: 'After school hours, we can't go to the mini-mart in the HDB estate and it's just across the road.'

It is understood that even students who simply walk through the estate can accosted by a patrolling teacher.

This reporter saw a teacher stop a group of students there last Friday.

According to a parent, the strict rules were imposed following complaints from residents in the area.

Said the same parent: 'If noise is such a problem, then remove the playground. It's always noisier than the students.

'In any case, teachers aren't supposed to be security guards. I don't think MOE pays them to guard void decks.'

But not everyone opposes the strict rules.

One Sec 2 student said: 'I agree with the school, that loitering can lead to trouble.'

One parent admitted: 'Ultimately, parents and teachers are both concerned for the pupils. I may not like the ban, but it shows that the school's making an effort for its students.'

Julian Lee, newsroom intern

 

[metalslug]

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,191704,00.html?

'Teacher scolded students near my shop'
February 04, 2009




HE has lived in the nearby housing estate for 15 years.

And he strongly disagrees with the way Coral Secondary School treats its students.

The man, who gave his name only as Mr Heng, said: 'They just don't seem to understand that students are rebellious at this age. You can't use force and expect them to listen to you.'


Students, both past and present, know him as the owner of the provision shop they pass by when they walk through the estate.

And because they have been patronising his shop, both before and since the school imposed the ban, he has become a friend to some of them.

'These students, they may still be kids, but they want to be treated like adults. And that's how it should be done,' he said.

'If the teachers don't respect the students, why should the students respect the teachers?'

He spoke of one confrontation he witnessed on 20 Jan.

According to him, he saw a school staff member returning from White Sands with a packet of takeaway food in his hands when he came upon a group of students eating instant noodles at the void deck just outside his shop.

Said Mr Heng: 'He stood there, pointing with his own food in his hand, and told the students to throw away their noodles and go.

'How can he do this? You're supposed to be a role model.'

He said he used to relay feedback to the school on improving student discipline, but has stopped, because the school did not seem to think much of his suggestions.

One parent, whose son left Coral Secondary five years ago, said he missed the old discipline master.

'We knew him only as Mr Singh, but he was the type to talk to students. Very stern, but still understanding.

'I still remember the times when he would watch over the students leaving the school after dismissal.

'He would stand by the wall and cheerfully shout out to students by name, reminding them to stay out of trouble.'

A resident said that students used to stay back in the canteen to study with their friends after school hours, where they would be under their teachers' watch.

When asked to comment, a Sec 2 student said: 'We can still stay back after school, but the teachers say we should go straight home, the earlier the better.'

Continued the resident: 'They're teenagers. They have friends.

'They'll want to have a place to be with their friends. If they can't stay in school, they'll go somewhere else to do it.

'So now, instead of having the students in one spot, where they can be easily watched, they have students all around the place, from the HDB estate to Loyang Point.'

Julian Lee, newsroom intern

 

[singveld]

She is wise. What she is doing to protect her arse and her rice bowl. If any of her students get into some form of trouble. She has to answer. She would not want to take the rap.
Many of us had see what happened to Mas Selamat's escape. How many of the
prison wardens had sacked or demoted, including the head. Remember the
commando, where a trainee drowned and four trainers had to the rap and the CO transferred. There were many more, the latest Singapore Flyers, someone had to take the shit. The GM resigned. All these scrapegoats had to be sacrificed in order the MIWs had to save their arses.

principal look cute.

i teach her to help catch them.

get group of prefect with digital video camera and walk around the mall and take video of offender and fine them

for the student, get a raincoat, or overcoat to cover the uniform, so no one can see the uniform or say anything.

go to other mall in singapore

 

[Loofydralb]

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,191705,00.html?

MOE, please sack this bitch!

What she is doing isn't educating. It is intimidating, harassing, fear-mongering.

 

[R4g3]

They are quite strict with discipline. There was once when i go visit my mum-in-law whose house is just next to the school, i saw a teacher in a mercedes drive to the bus stop outside the school, start screaming at the 20+ students, picking every single fault that she can find, from talking loudly, playing, to not wearing their uniform properly.

Perhaps it is good for the resident there but somehow it is a little too strict.

 

[metalslug]

Like PAP loh!!!

MOE, please sack this bitch!

What she is doing isn't educating. It is intimidating, harassing, fear-mongering.

 

[angie II]

WTF! Coral Sec's principal is a communist? Your western friends will laugh at us if they come to know of this
On second thought, sinkapore is still a nanny state afterall

 

[SneeringTree]

Wat an ugly and stupid looking bitch! :oIo:

I can bet she's a Christian fundamentalist.

 

[angie II]

That is not the right way to educate them. I remembered Woody Goh said this :

"If you sing Jailhouse Rock with your electric guitar when others are playing Beethoven, you are out of order. The whip must be used on you."

 

[R4g3]

She is wise. What she is doing to protect her arse and her rice bowl. If any of her students get into some form of trouble. She has to answer. She would not want to take the rap.
Many of us had see what happened to Mas Selamat's escape. How many of the
prison wardens had sacked or demoted, including the head. Remember the
commando, where a trainee drowned and four trainers had to the rap and the CO transferred. There were many more, the latest Singapore Flyers, someone had to take the shit. The GM resigned. All these scrapegoats had to be sacrificed in order the MIWs had to save their arses.

I agree, as the age of principals are getting lower and lower, these young principals main concern is actually performance. As long as the students are not in school uniform, the school will not have to bear any responsibility to what they have done in the public.

But sometime it is not only the school that are banning students from entering malls, there is a heartland mall who ban students from entering, but after numerous complains from parents and shop tenants, they have to lift the ban after 1 year.

 

[kylie72]

Yes, it's terrible to ban students from the malls, but the principal who set these rules is total crap not because of the intent to minimise students loitering around, but the incredile stupidity of thinking the concept can actually work.

I mean, since when have students run out of ideas where to go and have fun? Just because they are banned from some mall nearby, they will obediently go home or to the library? I seriously fail to come up with expressions befitting of this idiocy. The level of stupidity is on par with the ban on tissue paper by a principal some years ago, because of littering in the school.

Had any of my employees implemented such a retarded method to handle such a situation, he/she would straightaway get to the top of the retrenchment list. And then they would probably apply for NIE. Shit, so that's why...




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I think the whole education system in Singapore sucks big time.

That's why you have followers with NO BALLS.

If I were the parents there, I will gang up and ask for the Principal's removal.

This is worst than any COMMUNIST system on earth.

Only real HARD-UPS FTs send their children to Singapore to study. What are you going to learn here?

 

[loeggusder]

I wonder how many here are parents?

 

[blackmore]

Veronica Ng (Principal)

Looks like a spinster to me; probably graduated from our freaking SAF
There's no logic to the rules imposed

 

[0939]

Couple of years ago, there was this incident where about 4 or 5 boys and a girl from Fairfield Sec Sch. They were smoking around the staircase of a HDB block about half a km away from their school. Their uniforms gave away where a resident called the school.
The discipline master went straight to the location and found them. At that time they were not smoking. The DM smelled their mouth of cigarette and were caned on the following day.

 

[myfoot123]

Singapore reputation will be at stake when such news get into the world stage. I am shocked beyond words!!! Teaches are supposed to be in school and not loiter in the mall catching students having their decent meals.

 

[0939]

Looks like a spinster to me; probably graduated from our freaking SAF
There's no logic to the rules imposed

I have just mentioned. What if you are the CO of the commando unit, four of your trainers punished a trainee who is on special course. He died by suffocating, a sort of drowning procedure. YOu have to answer for it. In this case, the CO was relieved from his post. Somebody got to be the scrapegoat.

 

[borom]

Wat I find amusing is that even if the student is accompanied by his / her parents, he / she still can't step into the mall when in uniform. What utter crap? The principal is a total moron and embarasment to the teaching industry! :oIo:

Agree.
I also find it shocking that the parents in the school actually kept quiet and toe the line.They should raise a ruckus and collectively complained to the MOE and their respective MP's.It will be enlightening to hear what the MP's have to say.

The school do not have the right to prohibit students from following parents into the mall . If I were to be one of the parents, I would in fact challenge the school to take disciplinary action against my kid for following me into the mall .

I think a lawyers letter to the school stating that it does not have the right to prohibit students from going into the mall accompanied by their parents will suffice.Can any lawyer confirm this?

 

[R4g3]

Wat I find amusing is that even if the student is accompanied by his / her parents, he / she still can't step into the mall when in uniform. What utter crap? The principal is a total moron and embarrasment to the teaching industry! :oIo:

If i am the parent and having a meal with my kids at the food outlet there, a staff/teacher from the school approach my kid and tell him he has broke the rules, and still insist when i tell him i am the parent, I will definitely go to the principal and make a big fuss over it. It shows how inflexible the school is.

 

[Sayn]

The school's management has an overinflated sense of importance, and does not take into account the facts of life.

Imposing such a draconian rule, does nothing but to give a sense of importance to the managers of the school.

The school does not have the right to control the activities of the students once past the sessions.

Heavy Handedness.

sayn

 

[Airlib]

Haaa... Stupid principal... If such things can go away with MOE saying anything. It won;t be long before we over-take from N Korea or Myanmar to become a total controlled state.
Not solving the problem at the root lah.. As if the students there are so desperate to shop at White Sands.. Damn.. a train ride and they will be all over Bugis, Orchard, City Hall and some say Marina Sq.

Ask the Principal to look for a job at N Korea or somewhere.... Her iron fist rule is needed there.