EVERY time Madam Guythri Sivakavi told her five-year-old son that she was taking him to school, he would cry.
And each time, she would relent.
The 25-year-old housewife recalled: "He would cry and not want to go to school, so my heart would break and I would give in."
This went on until July, when the Ministry of Education's Pre-School Education Branch (PEB) stepped in.
The PEB realised that Madam Guythri's son, Vishnu Vimallan Gerrad Rajan, was not in pre-school and linked the family up with a People's Association grassroots leader, Mr Chandra Sekaran Pillai.
Mr Chandra visited the family and helped Madam Guythri register Vishnu in a nearby PAP Community Foundation kindergarten.
Vishnu started attending K1 in August.
The family lives in a two-room rental flat in Ang Mo Kio.
But barely a month after he started school, Vishnu's principal, MrsMSusi, told The New Paper that his attendance had been irregular.
Currently, pre-primary education is not compulsory.
When we called the school late last month, Mrs Susi said Vishnu had been absent from class for the previous three weeks.
"We're worried as we do not know what has happened to the family, and we cannot have an absent child," she added.
"We've called the mother's mobile phone almost every day but no one picks up,and our teachers can't find them at home."
Parents not cooperative
She said she wanted to promote Vishnu to K2, but it was hard for her to do so if his parents were not cooperative.
The New Paper experienced similar difficulties when we tried to contact Madam Guythri for an interview, which was setup last Wednesday only after more than 30 calls and several postponements.
Madam Guythri, who is about five months pregnant with her second child, said she could not put Vishnu in childcare previously as he would cry.
Then, when the time came for him to be in pre-school, she tried two nearby kindergartens, but they had no vacancies initially.
When one of them finally had a place, Madam Guythri said she tried to take Vishnu there, but he would again cry inconsolably.
After PEB stepped in, she said she made him go even when he cried.
When we asked Madam Guythri why her son was not going to school regularly, she said she had been ill since August and sometimes goes to her mother's home in Bukit Batok to stay there. That made it difficult for her to send Vishnu to school.
"I had such a horrible headache I had to be hospitalised in August. I also feel giddy all the time these days," she said.
She added that it was hard to contact her as she "has to lie down all the time".
Sometimes, she added, she would get her 17-year-old niece to take Vishnu to school.
Her husband, Mr Vasudevan Rajan, 28, a police officer, is unable to do so as he works until midnight every day.
He's the family's sole breadwinner and earns about $1,400 a month.
Watches TV
Vishnu said that when he does not go to school, he watches TV at home and plays with his toys.
"I miss my friends at school. I have a lot of friends in school, and I like to learn new things. I think I'm smart," said the chatty and expressive boy.
But his principal, Mrs Susi, said it was hard to gauge his level of intelligence as he had not been attending school regularly.
She has decided to keep Vishnu out of her kindergarten because of his poor attendance.
"We have tried our best but the family has not responded to us," she explained.
Mr Chandra said the family must make their needs known to him.
'Robbed' of an education
"If they want, I can find a volunteer to take Vishnu to school. If he just stays at home, he's being robbed of a decent education," he pointed out.
Madam Guythri said she "feels sad" about the school's decision but added that she "did not expect" to be unwell.
She said she has plans to find another kindergarten for the boy soon.
"Vishnu must go to school, I do know that. Hopefully next year he won't cry.
"Even if he does, I will make him go anyway because I now know that he's just pretending to be scared," she said.
At this, Vishnu replied with a cheeky smile: "I will be a brave boy and go to school next year. I promise."
This article was first published in The New Paper.
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