MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) has assured the public that it is addressing school bullying following a senator’s call for stronger measures to protect students due to a recent international assessment that revealed how one in three Filipino students is bullied in school at least once a week.
In a statement, the DepEd said it has already implemented several programs that deal with mental health and counseling, learner formation, legislative approaches and parental involvement to deal with school bullying in public schools.
Among these measures, the agency said, are capacity-building for teachers and school personnel to help flag possible bullying cases, an online mental health platform to be fully transferred to DepEd next year as well as a mental health hotline.
The DepEd said it is also bolstering the involvement of parents in dealing with bullying cases.
“The Bureau of Learners Support Services (BLSS) is pushing to train parents to spot red flags of bullying among their kids (similar to the Katatagan
program for DepEd personnel). However, we are still waiting for the results of the special provision request for this program,” the DepEd said in a statement.
“The BLSS is primarily geared more at bullying prevention and creating a climate of safety in schools (using a more health and wellness lens). On the other hand, the LRPO (Learner Rights and Protection Office) mainly comes in to address abuse and bullying cases directly (using a more legal lens),” it added.
In a statement over the weekend, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian expressed concern over the recent results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) that showed that bullying remains a pervasive problem among boys in public schools.
The DepEd’s records showed 2 1,521 bullying cases nationwide during school year 2018-2019, which dropped to 11,637 the following year “possibly due to the shift to distance learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on basic education, stressed that when the findings of the 2018 PISA were scaled to the entire student population, up to 17.5 million learners would have experienced bullying. The discrepancies point to possible underreporting of bullying cases.
MANILA, Philippines — The Fed eration of Philippine Industries (FPI) yesterday decried attempts in some quarters calling for the split of the franchise area of the Manila Electric Co.
In a st atement, FPI chair Jesus Arranza called on those attempting to disparage Meralco to put a stop to what he said was a counterproductive act.
Arranza also called on the national leadership to step in to stop the attack on a legitimate business enterprise, adding t hat it is sending shivers to the business community.
“The Federation laments this vicious attack against one of its members. This is not only counterproductive but against the principles of what we stand for, stability in the business environment. If there are issues against Meralco or any member of the energy industry, is it not the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission who should resolve this?” he said.
Early this month, several congressmen led by Rep. Dan Fernandez waged a scathing attack against Meralco for alleged violations in its weighted average cost of capital or WACC.
In defense, Meralco said the fair assessment of WACC is determined by the regulator.
“If the issue is WACC, shouldn’t it be that the issue must be dealt with by the Energy Regulatory Commission since the rate-setting function under the law is their responsibility and duty? Perhaps it is time to have a more sober discussion on this matter. We do not need moves that rattle business confidence, especially in these very difficult times where industries and businesses need a stable environment,” Arranza argued.