Woodgrove teacher trial: Principal did not know money was collected from students, says defence

SINGAPORE — The principal of Woodgrove Secondary School did not know that teachers have been collecting money from students for learning materials for the various subjects, said the defence in the trial of a teacher accused of misappropriating students’ money.

When questioned by the defence on Thursday (Nov 29), principal Chee Chit Yeng admitted that he found out money was collected for various learning materials, only after the case involving Maslinda Zainal was brought to his attention in March 2017.

Maslinda, 44, stands accused of criminal breach of trust by misappropriating about S$40,000 meant for learning materials known as Excel packages. This allegedly happened between January 2016 and April 2017, while she was the Head of Department (HOD) for English.

Maslinda was to hand the money to the school bookshop, which would print the materials for the students.

However, she allegedly over-collected money from the students which amounted to S$40,000.

Defence lawyer Singa Retnam charged that Mr Chee, the prosecution’s first witness, did not actually know how the Excel packages were prepared and paid for.

In response to questions, Mr Chee explained it was his understanding that the packages were prepared through "teamwork", with certain teachers in charge and level coordinators pulling the resources together.

Asked about who prepared the packages specifically for the Secondary 1 students, Mr Chee said he could not recall.

"This is because, Mr Chee, you have no idea what was going on in the school," charged Mr Retnam.

At this, the prosecution raised an objection that the question was "without foundation at this point".

Mr Retnam went on to question Mr Chee about how money collected from the students for the packages was handed to Maslinda by the teachers.

"I have not witnessed it myself," said Mr Chee. "But my understanding is that they passed her in envelopes with class lists sometimes to account for whatever they had collected."

"But in reality you do not know how money was handed over to the accused by each teacher," pressed Mr Retnam, to which the witness agreed.

At the defence's questioning, Mr Chee acknowledged that he had not given any written instructions to teachers about how money should be collected for the materials.

Mr Chee has been principal of the school since 2013. By that time, Maslinda had been English HOD for seven years.

During the cross-examination, Mr Chee also shared that he was previously vice-principal at Greenwich Secondary School, and that his role at Woodgrove was his first as principal.

PROCEDURES NOT ADHERED TO: PRINCIPAL

Earlier, Mr Chee told the court that procedures relating to the collection of money were not adhered to.

Prompted by Deputy Public Prosecutor David Koh, Mr Chee described the school's practice for money collection: "In 2014, I shared with the school management committee consisting of key personnel that any collection, any letters to parents that involve the collection of money would have to be signed by myself, or minimally one of the vice-principals."

The key personnel informed included HODs, subject heads and level heads.

Mr Chee added that he had not signed any letters to parents indicating that money was to be collected for the Excel packages.

He said he was shocked by the discrepancies, as it was "not expected".

He added that neither the procedures nor policies were adhered to, as there was "no letter that accompanied the collection", and that students should have paid for the materials at the bookshop directly.

District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam asked Mr Chee what usually happened if there was money left over after cash had been collected from students.

Mr Chee said there have been instances where money was deducted from the students' Edusave accounts, and a portion was later refunded to the students when there was a reduction in costs.

ACCUSED WAS OVERLOADED WITH WORK: DEFENCE

When asked by the defence what Maslinda's duties were, Mr Chee explained that she was in charge of instructional programmes for English, coordinating the different levels for the subject, vetting examinations and assessment papers.

She also put up yearly budget proposals, and was in charge of work performance of teachers.

Mr Retnam pointed out that on top of all this, she had a host of other duties, including a teaching role, leading six committees, heading a performance that was "a roaring success", as well as marketing the school by visiting primary schools in the neighbourhood to talk about Woodgrove.

"She was coordinating the English language programme for five levels," said Mr Retnam. "And there were 1,200 students and 30 classes."

"That's right," answered Mr Chee.

"So don't you think she was overloaded with work?" Mr Retnam asked.

"In my opinion, as a senior education officer, holding on to an HOD role, I would say that is the more-or-less average workload for senior education officers," replied Mr Chee.

He added that he had "many other officers who are also performing with that kind of workload".

Mr Retnam showed the court photos of two awards Maslinda had received. One was an excellent service award in 2011, and the other was a caring teacher award in 2016, when Mr Chee was principal.

"How was the accused's performance as head of department?" Mr Retnam questioned.

"I've shared earlier - till the point of the incident, I've assessed that she has performed satisfactorily," Mr Chee answered.

"Wasn't she getting a 90 per cent pass rate for the O-Level exams for the English subject?" Mr Retnam questioned.

"Yes, for all the classes," Mr Chee said.

He then acknowledged that when he first became principal in 2013, the school had scored highly in what is known as a school climate survey conducted by the Ministry of Education. The survey’s aim is to get a ground sensing of teachers’ sentiments about how things were running in schools.

The results of the survey was at 90 per cent, Mr Retnam said, asking Mr Chee what the figure was currently.

"That last one that we had, I believe it was 51, 52 per cent," Mr Chee answered.

"So it dropped from 90 per cent to 52 per cent in a few years," Mr Retnam said.

"Yes," Mr Chee acknowledged.

The trial resumes next month with another witness on the stand, as Mr Chee is unable to attend court on that date. CHANNEL NEWSASIA

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