Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday, February 16 called on the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to work with Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) in addressing bullying in schools.
Gatchalian said both the DSWD and the PTAs should ensure the proper implementation of the Parent Effectiveness Service Program Act or Republic Act No. 11908 to strengthen parental involvement in child development such as preventing bullying.
The senator said he believes parents play a crucial role in preventing bullying as experts highlight how children engaged in bullying behavior tend to be exposed to different forms of violence at home.
This was verified by Dr. Bernadette Madrid of the Child Protection Network Foundation in a recent Senate hearing, saying that the alarming incidence of bullying in the country’s schools reflect the prevalence of violence that children experience at home.
The senator said the DSWD can ride on the existing network of the Department of Education (DepEd) since they already have the PTA.
"That is the fastest way of accessing our parents. If you have the modules, just partner with the DepEd because the parents are already there," Gatchalian said.
"All (the DSWD) need to do is work with the DepEd to mandate the parents to join in the Parent Effectiveness Service,” he said.
The Parent Effectiveness Service Program Act, which Gatchalian authored and co-sponsored, establishes the Parent Effectiveness Service (PES) Program to assist all parents and parent-substitutes in strengthening their knowledge and skills in responding to their parental duties and responsibilities.
Prior to the passage of Republic Act No. 11908, the DSWD was already implementing the PES as an intervention to parents of children inside the child development centers.
The DSWD is also leading the crafting of the law’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
Gatchalian, however, pointed out that reaching out to at least 20 million parents is quite a challenge, thus, the need to work with the DepEd which already have the PTAs.
Citing the National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children in the Philippines conducted in 2015, about three in five or 66.3 percent of respondents experienced several forms of physical violence during childhood.
The study added that 60 percent of these cases occurred within the home.
The 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) also showed that 65 percent of 15-year-old Filipino learners reported experiencing bullying at least a few times a month.
Compared to 78 other countries, the Philippines has the highest incidence of bullying in schools, the study also said.