Residents did not make complaints

Zul Othman, zul@mediacorp.com.sg

WHEN news of a seven-year-old girl’s four-storey fall through a broken railing first made headlines, many wondered why complaints from residents months earlier had gone unaddressed by the town council.

However, it has now transpired that neighbours other media had quoted as calling up the town council didn’t in fact make the calls. This is according to the independent committee appointed by the Tanjong Pagar Town Council to look into the incident.

The panel has completed interviewing all the parties involved, chairman Johnny Tan told Today, and the only party that maintains it had called up the authorities about the broken railing is the family of victim Siti Nur Aini.

But the family is not certain when they placed the call, so tracing the records has not been possible.

Added Mr Tan, principal partner of LT&T Architects and an accredited adjudicator: “At the moment, without any final conclusion, we have not done any assessment as to the accuracy of what the witnesses have said.”

The committee — appointed by Town Council chairman Koo Tsai Kee last month — includes Mr K Anparasan, a lawyer and deputy managing partner at law firm KhattarWong, and Mr Teh Hee Seang, an engineer and senior adviser at T Y LIN International.

“We have interviewed all the people involved, investigated the inspection regime of the town council and are now in the process of analysing the information,” said Mr Tan. The report will be released to the town council by the end of next month.

The Blangah Rise Primary School student’s grandfather, retiree Johari Mohd Siamu, told Today Siti was discharged from hospital on April 6 and is now “quite active”. She had suffered multiple fractures and bleeding in her abdomen from the fall on March 8. The medical bills were paid by the town council.

“She will be going for check-ups, but it looks like she will be going back to school on April 20,” said the 69-year-old.

From TODAY, News – Thursday, 16-April-2009

Bouncers join classroom

LONDON — Bouncers, ex-soldiers and former police officers are being brought into schools to provide “crowd control” and cover absent teachers’ lessons.

One school, thought to be in London, employed two permanent cover teachers through an agency for professional doormen, the National Union of Teachers annual conference in Cardiff heard yesterday.

Bouncers, who more usually work night s keeping order in pubs and clubs, are being employed in schools because they are “stern and loud”, said Mr Andrew Baisley, a teacher at Haverstock school in Camden, north London.

Recruitment agencies are advertising for people with “ex-marine, prison officer, bouncer, policeman, fireman” backgrounds to become supervisors, who do not need to have any teaching qualifications to oversee lessons.

It comes as ministers prepare to unveil the final part of a major review of children’s behaviour this week which will call on governors, head-teachers and parents to support teachers when they discipline pupils.

From September, new rules will limit the amount of cover that teachers can provide for one another, meaning schools could become more reliant on non-qualified staff, the union said.

The union today voted to oppose the use of unqualified staff to cover lessons. Members also agreed to campaign for a reduction in class sizes to 20 and a guarantee of time out of the classroom for teachers to prepare lessons.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: “Heads should ensure that the people they employ have the relevant experience and training — and that all the proper checks -are carried out on anyone working with children."

- THE GUARDIAN

From TODAY, World - Tuesday, 14-April-2009