SINGAPORE – The Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) has handed a pre-school financial penalties, and restricted new students from enrolling there after its former cook molested three children there.
ECDA has also taken action against four management staff, including banning three of them from working in the pre-school sector.
In a statement on Oct 29, ECDA said its investigations into the safety procedures of the school found multiple breaches which compromised children’s safety.
This comes after pre-school cook Teo Guan Huat, 61, admitted on Oct 27 to
sexually assaulting three girls aged one to two while they napped
at the school between May and November 2023.
His crimes were caught on the school’s CCTV system, but the footage was erased, and the police were alerted only weeks later.
The pre-school cannot be named due to a court-imposed gag order to protect the victims’ identities.
ECDA imposed $26,200 in financial penalties on the pre-school in May 2024. The agency also restricted all new enrolments there and shortened the school’s licence tenure from 36 months to six months.
ECDA also directed the pre-school to submit a corrective action plan to ensure children’s safety in there, which the school submitted in June 2024.
ECDA said: “To ensure that the pre-school’s proposed corrective measures and standard operating procedures are implemented well and sustained over time, the pre-school’s licence was shortened in May 2024 to six months, and their licence tenure has been kept at six months at subsequent licence renewals, to ensure that corrective measures they have put in place are effective.
“We reserve the right to not renew the pre-school’s licence if warranted.”
In February 2025, four employees of the pre-school were charged with intentionally omitting information on the incidents. The pre-school operator has removed all four employees from their posts.
