A video posted on social media final week has as soon as extra introduced consideration to bullying in faculties, which stays prevalent within the Philippines regardless of a regulation stopping it. The disturbing video that has gone viral has additionally raised issues over the tradition of bullying being normalized and whether or not punishment in opposition to bullies is enough contemplating the trauma that such acts depart on the victims.
This latest case involving Grade 10 college students in Pasig confirmed the sufferer being slapped and threatened by a schoolmate whereas different boys—studies mentioned there have been 11 of them—watched. The sufferer’s mom mentioned he was too traumatized that he refused to depart their home and go to highschool. The college has sanctioned the bullies to a few days of neighborhood service, which the sufferer’s household discovered too lenient. They’ve filed a grievance for bodily accidents and violation of Republic Act No. 10627 or the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 in opposition to the perpetrators.
RA 10627 offers mechanisms to report bullying and directs elementary and secondary faculties to undertake anti-bullying insurance policies. Except for disciplinary sanctions, the regulation additionally requires bullies—and fogeys—to endure a rehabilitation program. Colleges are additionally mandated to submit annual studies to the Division of Schooling (DepEd) and Congress.
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Ignorance
Nonetheless, a examine by the Second Congressional Fee on Schooling (Edcom II) revealed final June discovered that there’s a lack of knowledge about legal guidelines that shield the rights of youngsters and college students. The Edcom II report, “Understanding Bullying in Philippine Schooling: Impacts and Alternatives for Change,” mentioned interpretations of those legal guidelines, together with RA 10627 and RA 11036 or the Psychological Well being Act, have been largely left to the faculties. The shortage of a standardized mechanism, it mentioned, has resulted in some bullying incidents being unreported or dismissed attributable to lack of proof.
This might clarify the discrepancy between knowledge coming from DepEd and worldwide our bodies such because the Programme for Worldwide Scholar Evaluation (Pisa). Pisa 2018 findings confirmed that 65 p.c of Filipino college students had been victims of bullying, the best amongst all collaborating nations and territories. Whereas the Pisa 2022 evaluation confirmed a decrease determine, with one out of three college students being bullied, it nonetheless indicated that bullying remained prevalent in faculties. The outcomes additionally mentioned that boys (53 p.c) encountered bullying greater than women (43 p.c). The forms of bullying ranged from bodily abuse to being threatened or subjected to jokes or nasty rumors.
Good alternative
DepEd figures, then again, reported a surge in bullying circumstances, from 1,158 in 2013—the yr RA 10627 was handed—to twenty,172 in 2018. However DepEd mentioned these knowledge collated from the annual studies submitted to division places of work “stay unverified.” This has prompted Edcom II co-chair and Pasig Rep. Roman Romulo to ask: “The regulation was handed in 2013. From then, till [2023], bakit hindi na-identify [‘yung reporting issues?]. Maliwanag naman ‘yung batas. DepEd knew the obligations that they’d.”
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The latest change in management on the DepEd—Sen. Sonny Angara was appointed secretary in July or a month after the Edcom II examine got here out—is an ideal alternative for the division to evaluation faculties’ compliance with the anti-bullying regulation and reassess how insurance policies might be strengthened. DepEd has launched a minimum of two memos, one in 2014 and one other in 2017, that reminded faculties to submit annual studies on bullying circumstances. However because the Edcom II examine famous, “these memos don’t comprise any clause on sanctions for faculties which might be unable to conform.”
Colleges shouldn’t ignore or sweep underneath the rug the incidence of bullying on their premises or involving their college students. Social media has change into a platform for exposing these incidents, particularly within the absence of braveness on the victims’ half to report them to authorities however this needn’t be the case if faculties have created an atmosphere that makes victims really feel secure to report the harassment.
Parallel investigation
The motion of the Pasig native authorities to conduct a parallel investigation in coordination with DepEd, notably the Colleges Division Workplace of Pasig that has jurisdiction, may function a reference for dealing with bullying circumstances. DepEd must also contemplate the long-standing attraction to coach devoted personnel higher geared up to deal with bullying and psychological health-related circumstances as a substitute of colleges assigning the duty to instructing personnel with no acceptable coaching simply to allow them to adjust to the regulation.
Except for their houses, college students spend numerous time at school and it’s crucial that they be taught and co-exist in an atmosphere that nurtures them not solely academically but in addition emotionally and psychologically. This implies an atmosphere that places equal significance on IQ and EQ and produces well-adjusted and accountable members of society who will stand in opposition to bullying and never normalize it.