CEBU CITY – A teacher of a major university here has been fired after a video where he goaded his students to commit self-harm went viral online.
UNIVERSITY of Cebu-Banilad campus
University of Cebu (UC) Chancellor Candice Gotianuy on Monday night, March 19, announced the firing of the teacher. “His mother, who was a teacher, has also followed suit,” Gotianuy said in a Facebook post.
The 56-second viral video was posted on Facebook page “UC Confessions.”
A student secretly recorded what the teacher was uttering inside a classroom of the UC-Banilad Campus. The teacher’s face was not visible in the video.
As of Tuesday, March 19, the video has already generated 536,000 views, 16,000 reactions, and 10,000 shares.
Gotianuy added that 30 psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors were deployed at the school campus for the students involved to undergo counseling.
“We are using an assessment form approved by medical societies worldwide. This form assesses an individual’s state in a holistic way: The school and the home environment. We are also opening up this service to any parent, student, teacher, and staff,” said Gotianuy.
Gotianuy said the faculty agreed that the teacher’s actions were “absolutely unacceptable.”
There will also be a legal team which will reach out to the concerned students, whose classes were suspended for one week.
“By suspending classes, we are giving students time and space to heal. By letting him (teacher) go and asking the students to see a counselor, we are rebuilding our safe place,” said Gotianuy.