SINGAPORE - A mother has lodged a police report after discovering cane marks on her Primary 6 son's arm and leg, scars allegedly inflicted by his school's discipline headmistress.

The police said they received the report at 11am on Tuesday (Sept 3), the day the boy was caned in his primary school in the north-eastern part of Singapore, and are investigating it as a case of voluntarily causing hurt.

Ms Claire Kang, the mother of the pupil involved, told The Straits Times that the school's discipline headmistress caned her son and another classmate without informing the boys' parents, which was not the proper procedure according to Ministry of Education (MOE) guidelines.

She has reported the improper caning to the MOE.

Ms Kang said the discipline headmistress was dealing with an earlier altercation between her son and his classmate, and had summoned the boys to a school conference room where she chastised and caned them.

She said that her son was crying after the caning. After he came home, her husband noticed the red cane marks and convinced the boy to tell him what had happened.

Ms Kang told ST: "The police requested my son to demonstrate how he was being caned... He is traumatised by the caning incident and is unwilling to go to school.

"Is this how my son should be treated in school?"

The MOE said it was informed of the incident on Wednesday. A spokesman declined to comment on the specific complaint, but said that the ministry provides guidelines to schools to formulate their discipline policies, and discipline in schools should be "an educative process".

"In deciding the best approach, schools will consider the circumstances of the case, including the age of the student, severity of the student's actions, and whether offences have been repeated," he added.

The Education Act currently spells out the rules regarding corporal punishment.

The school said on Friday that it was unable to comment, as the incident is under police investigation.