GEORGE TOWN: A woman has won a lawsuit against an international school and its principal after her four-year-old daughter was bullied on five occasions in 2018, with one incident resulting in a bloodied nose.
The sessions court here found the school negligent for failing to take appropriate action following the incidents and breaching its duty to provide a safe environment.
Businesswoman Yong Oi Ling, 40, sued the Dalat International School and principal Shantel Seevaratnam in 2018 after her daughter was repeatedly taunted and attacked by her fellow preschoolers.
The school denied ignoring the complaints of bullying and said those involved were punished.
Yong’s lawyer, John Khoo, said the court found that the school failed to raise the matter with a team tasked to handle bullying and other disciplinary issues.
“Sessions judge Nasir Nordin ruled in our favour after finding the school negligent and in breach of its duty to provide a safe environment for the girl.
“The court took note of the school’s failure to refer the five incidents to a safety team, as outlined in the school’s guidelines,” he told FMT.
Khoo said the court awarded damages and costs to the plaintiffs. However, he did not disclose the amount.
According to Yong’s statement of claim, the victim was subjected to abuse and bullying by her classmates in 2018 and was even assaulted by a classmate, resulting in a bloody nose.
Yong said after a complaint written to the school’s counsellors, she did not receive any response, but only received an email from the principal accusing her of accosting the parents of the three boys that had hit her daughter.
She said the school had later sent her an email asking her to “consider whether our school is the best fit for your family” and accused her of having “disturbed a peaceful community”.
The remark was made after Yong confronted the parents of her daughter’s classmate who had allegedly hit her.
The school, in their statement of defence, denied they had ignored the complaints of bullying, saying those who attacked the girl were immediately punished and their parents informed.
It admitted there were instances of bullying, including an incident where the victim was attacked for picking up a puzzle piece belonging to another classmate. In another incident, the victim had approached a classmate who was playing with a toy car.
However, the school denied that the bloodied nose was due to an incident at school.
The school also claimed it had dealt sufficiently with all instances of bullying. - FMT
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