According to Sin Chew Daily, the headmistress, who was temporarily transferred to the district Education Department pending a probe on her, briefed parents of the affected students yesterday.

She told the parents that the Year Four pupils were caned for repeatedly failing to bring a magazine to school for their extracurricular activities despite numerous reminders and for being inattentive during the reading session.

The daily said that while many parents accepted the explanation, there were others who still disagreed. There were also some parents who did not attend the briefing session, despite having earlier lodged a report against the headmistress with the state education department.

The report against the headmistress was lodged last week and on Monday, some parents of the students caned staged a protest outside SJK (C) Kheng Chee in Puchong, where the incident happened. The parents alleged the students were also made to sign a “letter of repentance” over their acts of disobedience.