DepEd logs 1,709 abuse reports from students

Nov. 27, 2023. screenshot from DepEd video

The Department of Education (DepEd) has received a total of 1,709 reports of various forms of abuse committed against learners, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said Monday.

During the 31st National Children’s Month culminating program, Duterte said the reports were coursed through the Learner’s Telesafe Contact Center Helpline, which was launched in November 2022 to offer immediate assistance, intervention, and referral to any reported incidents of learner rights and protection violations.

“As of November 27, 2023, our Helpline has received a total number of 1,709 reports, with verbal abuse committed against our learners ranking as the highest, followed by sexual abuse and cyberbullying,” the DepEd chief said.

Duterte also stressed the urgency of the need to address child abuse online.

Quoting a United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund report, she pointed out that the Philippines “has become the global epicenter of the live-stream sexual abuse trade, and many of the victims are children.”

“The magnitude of this problem is doubly unsettling because our children have access to the internet, where information exchange is fast and even real-time. Apart from sexual abuse and exploitation, our children may also become the victim or the perpetrator of online bullying, hate speech, and other forms of abuse,” she added.

Duterte, in an ambush interview, said that DepEd’s Learner Rights and Protection Office (LRPO) has put certain mechanisms down to the school level to resolve the complaints of their learners.

She also called on both teaching and non-teaching DepEd personnel to establish a healthy and safe space among learners in schools.

She said that the DepEd has filed several administrative complaints against some of its personnel for child-related abuse.

“If the case warrants the filing of a criminal case, lumalapit po tayo sa ating Philippine National Police at nagpapatulong sa pag-file ng kaso. Sinisimulan po natin yan diyan sa dalawa: administrative and criminal complaints,” Duterte said.

(If the case warrants the filing of a criminal case, we approach our Philippine National Police and ask for help in filing the case. We are starting with these two: administrative and criminal complaints.)

“Sinisimulan po natin ‘yan sa dispute resolution. Hindi po kaagad tayo nagpaparusa, pinapaintindi po natin at nire-resolve natin ‘yung conflict diyan sa loob ng mga paaralan. Simple cases of mga hindi pagkakaintindihan ang ating first priority is ipagkasundo ang mga partners,” she added.

(We start that with dispute resolution. We don’t immediately punish them, but make them understand and resolve the conflict inside the schools. In simple cases of misunderstandings, our first priority is to reconcile the partners.)

DepEd launched a website and a national hotline last year to help address the complaints of learners on violence and abuse.

Students who experience abuse concerns could email [email protected], contact (02) 8632-1372/ 0945-175-9777, or message https://facebook.com/deped.lrpo/. — BM, GMA Integrated News

This article DepEd logs 1,709 abuse reports from students was originally published in GMA News Online.