SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Education (MOE) is following up with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and other varsities to ensure the safety and protection of students, following allegations of sexual misconduct against former NUS lecturer Jeremy Fernando, Minister of State for Education Sun Xueling said on Saturday (Oct 24).

The university sacked Dr Fernando on Oct 18 after its internal investigations last month found him to have had an “intimate association” with one of the two undergraduates who made the allegations against him.

NUS then filed a police report against the former Tembusu College lecturer on Oct 21.

“One question we have asked the university leadership: What more can they do to prevent instances like these from happening in future?” Ms Sun said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

“We recognise that our institutes of higher learning must give space for academic pursuit and ideas to flourish.

“But the issues around this case lead us to question: How can we better guard against educators and other individuals who cross the line, and how can we collectively strengthen campus safety?”

Institutes of higher learning have a duty of care to their students, so there must be “zero-tolerance in our campuses for any form of sexual misconduct, harassment or violence”, Ms Sun added.

“On MOE’s part, we will continue working closely with all our institutes of higher learning to tighten processes where needed, to ensure the safety of the student community at all times.”

NUS had on Friday admitted it had “fallen short” in the handling of the case, and these shortcomings were due to its “conservative culture”. It had pledged to be more transparent in future cases, and also be quicker to report such cases to the police.

In response to Ms Sun, Associate Professor Leong Ching, NUS Dean of Students and Associate Provost of special projects, said in a comment on the post that when she admitted that NUS could have handled the issue better, she was referring to “the less-than-timely communication of our decision”.

“I do not refer to our response to the complaint, which was first, to provide immediate support and care to the students involved; second to immediately suspend and then summarily dismiss the staff, all in just over a month.

“I believe that this was the most expeditious possible, while keeping to due process.

“With respect Minister, this is what zero tolerance looks like.”