Test of a teacher at Woodgrove: the director did not know that money had been collected from students, said the defense



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SINGAPORE: The director of Woodgrove Secondary School did not know that teachers had collected money from students to acquire teaching materials for different subjects, the defense said at the trial of an accused teacher to have diverted the students' money.

Questioned by the defense on Thursday, November 29, the main Chee Chit Yeng admitted to having discovered that money had been collected for various learning media, but only after the case involving Maslinda Zainal had been brought to its attention in March 2017.

Maslinda, 44, is accused of breach of trust on the part of a criminal by hijacking about $ 40,000 worth of Singaporean dollars for the acquisition of educational materials called Excel software. This would have occurred between January 2016 and April 2017, while she was Head of Department (English) for English.

Maslinda was to hand over the money to the school bookstore, which would print the materials for the students.

However, she reportedly collected excessively student money, which amounted to S $ 40,000.

Maslinda Zainal

Maslinda Zainal was the subject of a lawsuit for diverting about $ 40,000 from Singaporeans for learning materials for students.

Defense lawyer Singa Retnam said that Mr. Chee, the first prosecution witness, did not really know how Excel packages were prepared and paid for.

In response to questions, Mr. Chee explained that he understood that the modules had been prepared by "team work", some teachers in charge and some coordinators of levels gathering resources.

When asked who prepared the kits specifically for high school students, Mr. Chee replied that he could not remember.

"It's because, Mr. Chee, you have no idea what was going on at school," Retnam said.

The prosecution then raised an objection that the question was "unfounded at this stage".

Mr. Retnam then asked Mr. Chee about the fact that the teachers gave Maslinda the money collected from the students for the parcels.

"I did not see it myself," said Chee. "But I understand that they spent it in envelopes with class lists to account for everything that they had collected."

"But in reality, you do not know how each teacher gave money to the accused," said Retnam, with the witness's agreement.

During the defense's interrogation, Mr. Chee acknowledged that he had not given any written instructions to the teachers on how the money was to be collected for the material.

Mr. Chee has been director of the school since 2013. At that time, Maslinda was English HOD for seven years.

During cross-examination, Mr. Chee also testified that he had previously been an assistant principal at Greenwich Secondary School and that his role at Woodgrove was his first role as director.

PROCEDURES NOT ADDED TO: MAIN

Earlier, Mr. Chee told the court that the fundraising procedures had not been followed.

Invited by Deputy Attorney General David Koh, Mr. Chee described the school's money-raising practice: "In 2014, I shared with the school's management committee of staff members key as any collection, any letter intended for parents involving to be signed by myself or at least one of the deputy directors. "

Key informed personnel included Heads of Delegation, Subject Heads and Level Leaders.

Mr Chee added that he had not signed any letter to parents stating that money had to be collected for Excel parcels.

He said that he was shocked by the differences because they were "not expected".

He added that neither the procedures nor the policies had been respected, because "no letter accompanied the collection" and that the students should have paid the material directly to the bookstore.

District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam asked Mr. Chee what was generally happening if there was money left after the money was collected from the students.

Mr. Chee stated that, in some cases, funds were deducted from students' Edusave accounts and that a portion was then refunded to students in the event of cost reduction.

ACCUSED RECEIVED PRIZES, HAS BEEN OVERLOADED WORKING, SAYS DEFENSE

Asked by the defense about Maslinda's duties, Ms. Chee explained that she was in charge of English language teaching programs, coordinating the different levels of the subject, checking the exams and examinations of the students. # 39; evaluation.

She also presented annual budget proposals and was in charge of teacher performance.

Mr. Retnam added that she also had other duties, including teaching, running six committees, conducting a show that was "a resounding success", and promoting the school by visiting the elementary schools of the province. neighborhood to talk about Woodgrove.

"She coordinated the English language program on five levels," Retnam said. "And there were 1200 students and 30 classes."

"It's true," replied Chee.

"So you do not think she was overworked?" Mr. Retnam asked.

"In my opinion, as a senior education officer retaining a chief executive role, I would say that it is the more or less average workload of senior education officers. "replied Mr. Chee.

He added that he had "many other officers who also perform this type of work".

Mr. Retnam showed the court photos of the two sentences that Maslinda had received. One was an excellent service award in 2011, and the other was a thoughtful teacher award in 2016 when Mr. Chee was director.

"How was the performance of the accused as a department head?" Mr. Retnam questioned.

"I shared earlier – until the point of the incident, I evaluated that it worked satisfactorily," replied Mr. Chee.

"Did not she get a 90% pass rate on O level exams for English subject matter?" Mr. Retnam questioned.

"Yes, for all classes," Chee said.

He later admitted that when he became a director in 2013, the school had a good track record in what is known as a school climate survey conducted by the Ministry of Education. The purpose of the survey is to give a concrete idea of ​​teachers' feelings about how things were going in the schools.

The survey results were 90%, said Retnam, asking Chee what was the current figure.

"The latter we had, I think it was at 51, 52%," replied Mr. Chee.

"So it went from 90% to 52% in a few years," said Retnam.

"Yes," acknowledged Chee.

The trial will resume next month with another witness at the helm, as Mr. Chee can not attend the hearing on that date.

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