Ex-principal of S’pore preschool jailed 10 days for failing to report molest of toddler by school cook

 

https://mothership.sg/2026/04/former-preschool-principal-failed-report-molestation-school-cook-jail/

Ex-principal of S’pore preschool jailed 10 days for failing to report molest of toddler by school cook

The judge described the principal's conduct as "wilful inaction".

Chloe Loh

April 01, 2026, 04:29 PM

A former preschool principal has been sentenced to 10 days' jail on Apr. 1 after failing to report the molestation of a toddler by a school cook.

The cook, 61-year-old Teo Guan Huat, was sentenced in November 2025 to over nine years’ jail for molesting three toddlers during their naptime over a seven-month period in 2023.

The 62-year-old principal pleaded guilty in court to one charge of failing to report the cook's offence, and another charge of conspiring to obstruct justice was taken into consideration during sentencing, CNA reported.

She cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the identity of the victims.

Background to the case

According to court documents, Teo worked at the preschool for a year before resigning on Nov. 23, 2023 after being confronted by the school's management committee.

Though his primary role was as a cook, he assisted teachers during naptime, helping to lay out mattresses and pat children to sleep.

He also escorted the children to another teacher for their showers.

Teo admitted to sexually abusing the three girls, whom he knew by name, by reaching into their diapers or under their clothing and molesting them.

He also confessed he had targeted young children because they were unable to speak up, making detection less likely.

Cover-up

On Nov. 16, 2023, the vice-principal reviewed the CCTV footage that caught Teo in the act.

At the time, the principal and executive director were overseas attending a course on child abuse protection.

Upon their return, the principal, vice-principal and executive director, alongside the chairwoman who oversaw the preschool, had a meeting to discuss the footage.

Rather than reporting the matter to the authorities, they deliberated over whether to keep it quiet. The executive director proposed handling the matter internally by asking Teo to resign, saying the two-year-old victim had been asleep and was "not really affected."

After several days of discussion, the chairwoman initially decided on Nov. 23, 2023 not to report the matter to police — only to reverse course the following day, resolving to contact authorities.

Upon learning of this decision, the executive director instructed the principal and vice-principal to prepare their resignation letters.

The executive director and vice-principal further agreed to overwrite or delete incriminating footage and pressured the principal to go along with the plan, CNA reported.

Erasing footage of incident

On Nov. 26, 2023, acting on the executive director's instructions, the vice-principal reformatted the hard disk of the CCTV, erasing all footage recorded prior to that date.

The chairwoman eventually lodged a police report on Dec. 2, 2023.

Two days later, Teo was arrested and police raided the preschool, discovering the CCTV system had been reformatted.

Investigators were nonetheless able to recover incriminating footage.

According to CNA, following the incident, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) fined the preschool S$26,200, restricted new enrolments and reduced its licence tenure from 36 months to six months.

The agency also barred three of four management members involved from working in the early childhood sector from April 2024, and all four were removed from their posts.

On Jan. 19, the former executive director was sentenced to four months' jail, while the former vice-principal received three months and two weeks.

Principal was "plainly influenced by considerations of self-interest": Judge

According to CNA, during sentencing, the judge described the principal's conduct as "wilful inaction", noting that it could have allowed a sexual predator to remain free and reoffend.

She added that the principal had made a deliberate choice not to alert the authorities despite being fully aware of what Teo had done.

The judge said that as the principal, the woman bore responsibility for upholding the standards and safeguarding the welfare of the children in her care.

The judge found the principal's actions to be "plainly influenced by considerations of self-interest," describing such motivations as "highly aggravating."

She also dismissed the defence's argument that the revocation of the principal's ECDA licence had already deprived of her livelihood, stating that it was a natural consequence of the offence.

If convicted of omitting to give information about an offence, one can be jailed for a maximum of six months, fined, or both.