The Department of Education (DepEd) on Thursday, Jan. 11, underscored the urgent need to strengthen efforts to better address bullying in schools.
DepEd, in a Palace briefing, gave an update on its efforts to combat bullying in schools. This is after the recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results showed that bullying is related to the competency levels and academic performance of students.
“Talagang nakakaapekto [at] sabi nga doon sa PISA results ay talagang nakakaapekto iyong bullying sa performance nila sa exam (Bullying really has an impact, and as mentioned in the PISA results, it significantly affects their performance in exams),” DepEd Undersecretary Michael Poa said. “There was indeed a correlation found by the PISA results,” he added.
Recognizing the importance of addressing bullying and other possible cases of abuse among students, Poa said that the DepEd has established the Learner Rights and Protection Office (LRPO) in 2023.
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“The majority of the complaints are really about bullying,” Poa said. “Most of the calls we receive and the investigations we conduct are mostly related to bullying,” he added.
Citing data from its LRPO, Poa said there have been 120 cases resolved to date. However, he noted that there might be issues that need to be addressed when it comes to the reporting system.
Poa noted that there have been cases resolved, and there might be “underreporting” that is happening. “That's why we need to ensure that our system is accessible to everyone, including anonymous complaints, because many are afraid to file complaints,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino. “We want to make sure that people are encouraged to report,” he added.
At present, Poa said that DepEd is strengthening the Child Protection Committees in schools. He added that the reporting system is also continuously being improved.
While DepEd already has an LRPO, Poa said that DepEd aims to establish a hotline that is “easier to remember” to ensure that it is “more accessible for children to use.”
Poa explained that the first line of reporting of bullying is at the school level. However, DepEd deemed establishing a hotline necessary to encourage students to report without fear.
“We have a hotline so that if they are afraid to report to their school or division office, they can go directly to the central office through our hotlines, and we facilitate the process,” Poa said. “We monitor these cases from the time they are reported until they are resolved,” he added.
Bullying and mental health
Poa said that DepEd is also looking at how bullying is related to mental health.
DepEd, he added, is crafting the guidelines for a mental health program along with the Department of Health (DOH).
“Bullying, whether from the bully or the one being bullied, has a mental health aspect. So, that is something we are also addressing right now,” Poa said, noting that a budget has been allocated for the implementation of mental health programs in schools which would include counseling, advocacies, and referral to the experts through DOH.
“This is something that we are doing with the DOH because as we say, this is really a mental health issue — when you talk about bullying you have to talk about mental health issues,” he added.
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When it comes to mental health, Poa said that determining and identifying the learners who need intervention is very crucial.
Poa said one project that DepEd aims to come up with is a more effective screening system. Alongside the screening system, the agency also wants to train teachers and parents to “spot red flags” so that they can the schools when their children need intervention.
DepEd also eyes to include cyberbullying in its efforts to address the problem. Poa said the agency is looking into integrating into the curriculum responsible use of the internet, among others.
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https://mb.com.ph/2022/10/15/parents-guardians-urged-to-protect-childrens-mental-health-online/
“As an advocacy, we have many projects or advocacies at the school level just to educate our learners when it comes to use of the internet and of course, cyberbullying,” Poa said. “So, it’s really number one creating awareness and then number two how do you respond once there is bullying,” he added.
On the response side, Poa said that the LRPO aims to ensure that at the school level, there is reporting in the system.
“It’s easy to say that we have child protection committees but it’s another thing to know if they’re really functional at the school level,” he explained. “So, that’s what our operations team is doing right now together with the curriculum team,” he added.
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