Nine students from the Global Indian International School (GIIS) were asked to get off their school bus, after their driver pulled over and refused to continue driving.
The part-time driver, Mr Seeni Mohamad Alim, 54, was upset that some of the students, who were between nine and 14 years old, had been making noise on the bus even though he had asked them to behave.
He stopped the bus along Balestier Road. The students made their way home by walking or taking public buses to the Lavender and Farrer Park areas, where most of them live. Some walked more than 2km, said some parents.
The incident took place last week on Tuesday afternoon.
One parent made a police report. Other parents took issue with how the school handled the matter.
Mrs Sraboni Basu said that a GIIS staff member informed her that the driver had pulled over because the bus was faulty.
GIIS declined to comment, but The Straits Times understands its principal told parents that the driver has been replaced. It is also understood that the school's bus operator, City Line Tour & Travel, subcontracts its services to part-time drivers like Mr Alim.
When contacted, Mr Alim said he had intended to send five misbehaving students to the school to lodge a formal complaint against them. He had also planned to give four students, who had behaved themselves, $10 to share a taxi home. But they boarded a public bus before he could stop them, said the bus driver of three years.
He said: "I tried to talk to the kids but they kept saying nasty things and jumping around. So I said: 'That's it, I'm not driving you any more.'"
