GEORGE TOWN, Aug 12 — A finance officer visited over 10 nurseries before choosing one for her three-year-old boy, but is now claiming her careful selection went awry after a teacher began allegedly abusing her child there.

Moey Sook Yeng, 35, said her toddler claimed that he was physically abused, bound and even gagged with a cellophane tape by his nursery teacher.

“A few months after he started going to the nursery, when I was trying to get him to take a nap in the afternoon when at home, he suddenly told me that the teacher had beaten his thigh because he refused to sleep during nap time,” she recounted in a press conference called by Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin here today.

Upon further questioning, she said her son claimed that the teacher had also tied up his hands using his bolster case.

“My husband called the school and spoke to the person in charge on the next day and they said they will investigate, so, two weeks later, they admitted that the teacher did tie my son’s hands and apologised,” she said.

She said the person in charge claimed that the teacher was new to the nursery, and explained that women can “be emotionally unstable a few days a month”, before promising that the incidents would not be repeated.

But Moey said the reprieve lasted only a month, before her son alleged that the abused had begun anew.

Accusing the nursery, which is part of a well-known chain of kindergartens and nurseries, of not taking her complaints seriously, Moey said she lodged a police report in June but found a similarly discouraging response.

“The police told me it is hard to prove that the boy was mistreated as there was no evidence and no CCTV and they advised me to file suit against them instead,” she said.

Moey said she was not seeking any compensation, and only wanted to warn other parents against such nurseries.

Sim said this case shows that there is an urgent need for a policy to monitor kindergartens and nurseries in the country.

“We need a policy to check these nurseries and kindergartens,” he said.

He said the kindergartens and nurseries should come under the purview of the Education Ministry to ensure that only qualified teachers are hired for nurseries and kindergartens.

“These places need to be monitored and checked,” he said.