Several female students, seen bullying and hitting another student with a toilet brush in an online video, have been disciplined, said their school's principal.
Assumption Pathway School principal Eric Leong told The Straits Times yesterday that the incident happened on Thursday.
He said "the actions in the video are unacceptable", and the school has identified and disciplined the offenders, but declined to elaborate on the action taken.
In the 29-second clip, the female victim - a special needs student - is seen crouching on the floor with a trash bag over her body. At least four other girls can be seen in the video.
One of the girls uses the toilet brush to scrub the victim's head. As she gets up, the bullies close in on her. One pushes her against the wall, and the same girl with the toilet brush uses the cleaning tool to scrub near the victim's groin area, parts of her chest and her face.
The girls, who are seen laughing in the clip, have also placed a toilet seat around the neck of their victim. One of the bullies then flips the toilet seat lid up and down against her face a few times.
The clip was uploaded with text in Malay saying "we are busy bullying" this girl.
A police report was made yesterday by Ms Norashsikin Radzelee, 29, who said she first saw the video on Twitter. Ms Norashsikin, who is a teacher at another school, said she was outraged when she saw the clip.
She added: "As a parent myself, if this were to happen to my child, I would be upset and worked up."
Assumption Pathway's principal Mr Leong said: "We take a strong stand against bullying, and teach our students to care for others.
"We are also working with their parents to ensure that the offenders are made aware of the serious consequences of their behaviour, and that they will not repeat such behaviour."
In an e-mail to a member of the public over the incident, Mr Leong said that "the well-being of the victim is very important", adding that teachers and counsellors will provide support to her.
The school, which held a gala dinner yesterday to mark its 10th anniversary that was attended by President Halimah Yacob, takes in students who have failed their Primary School Leaving Examination.
One of the alleged bullies apologised in a Facebook post yesterday.
She said: "This incident has caused a lot of pain and trouble to me and my family, as well as other party involved (sic). I am owning up to my mistake and truly regret it."
The incident follows a number of bullying cases this year.
In February, a video showing students from Westwood Secondary School punching and throwing a chair at a schoolmate went viral.
Last month, a video clip showing two girls slapping and kicking another girl also surfaced online.
- Additional reporting by Rachael Seow
