Police investigating Montfort Secondary bullying incident

SINGAPORE - A group of Montfort Secondary School students were disciplined after they were involved in a bullying incident, which was captured on video and circulated online.

The police confirmed a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing.

In response to queries from The Straits Times on Feb 23, the school’s vice-principal Wilson Tay said it has counselled the affected students and engaged their parents.

“We take the safety and well-being of all our students seriously, and have taken appropriate disciplinary actions on the students involved,” said Mr Tay, without elaborating on what these actions were. He also did not provide details about when the bullying happened and when it was reported to the school. “The students have acknowledged that their behaviours were wrong and have expressed remorse,” he added.

Mr Tay said the school has zero tolerance for bullying and violence, and will “continue to seek to provide a safe learning environment for all students”.

A video of the incident surfaced online on Feb 22, and was reposted a few times. As at 7.30pm on Feb 23, one of the earlier posts on Facebook had racked up over 1.2 million views, 3,400 reactions and was shared over 9,000 times. In the video, a group of boys wearing shirts with the Montfort name follow a similarly attired boy as he walks ahead carrying his schoolbag. They can be heard repeatedly saying “cepat” (quick in Malay).

As the group catch up, one of them trips the boy with the bag. While he is on the ground, another from the group kicks him twice. The victim does not retaliate, even after getting tripped again and having one of his shoes come off more than once, and continues walking away. The incident was recorded by another individual, and a voice can be heard requesting the video to be sent via WhatsApp.

Montfort Secondary said on its website that it aims to provide an education that has the person in society at its centre. It also has a stated goal “to form enlightened and harmonious persons committed to a just and fraternal world”.

Education Minister Chan Chun Sing had said on Feb 4

that his ministry takes a serious view of any act of bullying or violence.

“No one should be bullied, no one wants to be bullied, and no one should bully,” he said in Parliament, after an altercation between two Secondary 1 students resulted in one of them being taken to hospital to treat a cut on his head.

Mr Chan added that parents should let schools and the authorities handle these cases without speculating or stepping in to complicate matters.

The case on Jan 7 led to the 12-year-old boy from Admiralty Secondary getting suspended and assisting the police in investigations after allegedly attacking his classmate.

In a separate case in 2023, a 15-year-old girl from the same school died by suicide after she allegedly faced bullying and suffered from depression.

Mr Chan had said in October 2024

that the number of reported instances of online bullying is expected to “progressively rise”,

as children have wider exposure to influences on the internet, and also become aware of what cyber bullying looks like.  For every 1,000 students, there is an annual average of two incidents of bullying in primary schools, and six incidents in secondary school, he had added.