Child abuse and compliance on Child protection policy in private and public basic educational institutions

College

Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC College of Education

Department/Unit

Educational Leadership and Management

Document Type

Article

Source Title

International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education

Volume

10

Issue

1

Publication Date

3-2019

Abstract

In this study, the researchers presented reports on child abuse and bullying in all regions of the Philippines to give a picture of incidence of cases after the establishment of the Child Protection Policy by the Department of Education (DepEd). Then, the researchers investigated on how child protection issues underlying the essence of the DepEd Child Protection Policy are generally understood and implemented within the school’s context. Adopting an instrument from UNICEF, the researchers through a descriptive survey, examined the level of awareness of teachers in two private and two public basic educational institutions in an urban city in Metro, Manila, Philippines regarding child protection issues that they encounter in the classroom setting; and verified how the DepEd Child Protection Policy is actually being implemented in one of these schools. Information about observed cases on abuse and bullying, although mostly shared conservatively, significantly revealed the existence of child protection issues. Moreover, the researchers deem the important contribution that teachers play in such undertaking especially in the prevention and early detection of child abuse and bullying. Consequently, this study recommends for further research on the implementation of the DepEd Child Protection Policy mainly focusing on the monitoring of the system adopted by schools and on probing on the capacity building activities afforded to teachers in both public and private educational settings. This study contributes to the Philippines policy making on creation, updating, implementation, and monitoring of Child Protection Laws and Policies. 1. Introduction Violence against children (VAC) is a crucial global problem that every country in the world faces and tries to end. This violence come in varied forms and generally include neglect; physical, sexual, and psychological abuse; maltreatment and exploitation; and cruelty and discrimination. Both boys and girls are vulnerable to violence, especially younger children. VAC can happen anywhere at home, in school, communities, and online. Violence affects all children regardless of ethnicity or socio-economic

status. According to United Nations (UN) World Report on VAC (2006), about one (1) billion children have experienced several sexual violence, emotional violence, bullying, or have witnessed violence in the past years, and almost three quarters are in Asia. According to UNICEF, more than half of Filipino children experience violence during their childhood, with boys twice as likely to become victims of abuse. Children who are victims of abuse tend to develop low self-esteem, feel sad and fearful, avoid interaction with other people, and experience anxiety attacks. Notably, violence can have a devastating and life-long impact on children’s physical and psychological wellbeing. To address this global conflict, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was created. Adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1989, the CRC is the first universal legally binding code of children’s rights in history. It establishes global standards to ensure the protection, survival, development, and participation of all children, without discrimination. Countries that ratify the treaty pledge to protect children from all forms of violence and to advance the rights of children primarily to education, health and special care, security, privacy, and a decent standard of living. States that have ratified the UN CRC are legally bound by it and have made a commitment to taking the necessary legal, budgetary, administrative, and other measures to implement it. According to the Council for the Welfare of Children & UNICEF (2016) the country participated in the National

Baseline Study on Violence against Children (NBS- VAC) which is a nationwide research aimed to gather

national epidemiological data on violence against children experienced sought to: 1) make an estimate of the prevalence of violence against children (VAC) in various forms and settings; 2) enumerate the social and health consequences of VAC; 3) assess children’s awareness and utilization of healthy, legal, and welfare services related to VAC; and 4) obtain stakeholder’s views about VAC including the perceived reasons why VAC persist in the communities, adequacy/inadequacy of existing services, type of resources and services still needed, readiness to implement VAC services as well as their capacity-building needs. The study was conducted in International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education (IJCDSE), Volume 10, Issue 1, March 2019 Copyright © 2019, Infonomics Society 3957

172 randomly selected barangays in the 17 regions of the country. In each barangay, 25 households were systematically sampled and, in each household, 1 eligible child was selected as the final respondent. Three thousand eight hundred sixty-six (3866) children and youth aged 13-24 years participated in the study giving an overall response rate of 89.85%. Majority of the children belonged to the middle economic class; 55.6% came from the rural areas and 44.4% came from the urban areas. About 99.3% of the respondents attended school; majority of them were in high school and college during the survey. An estimate of 25% of Tagalog speaking mostly comprised the respondents followed by the Cebuanos, Ilokanos, and Ilonggos. About 12.3% of them were indigenous people. From this perspective, the Philippine Plan of Action to End Violence against Children (PPAeVAC) was developed by the Council for the Welfare of Children which translates the findings of the NBS-VAC into action. The PPAeVAc is a multi-sectoral roadmap designed towards a progressive reduction of violence against children in the country. This is the commitment of the government to build an enabling environment that respects, protects, and fulfils the rights of all children in the country. It is focused on breaking the cycle of violence by addressing the causes at the demand side, building the capacity of children to protect themselves, improving the legislative environment, enhancing integrated services for preventing and responding to violence, ensuring access to social services, monitoring of interventions, and evaluating the implementation of the plan. This is the expression of the Philippine government’s commitment and contribution to the attainment of the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on the Elimination of Violence against Children in 2015-2025 (Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, 2016). The Philippine Laws on Child Protection are Republic Act (R.A.) 7610 Anti-Child Abuse Act, R.A. 10627 Anti-Bullying Act, R.A. 9344 Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act, R.A. 9208 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, R.A. 9775 Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, R.A. 10630 Establishing a Comprehensive Juvenile

Justice Welfare System, R.A. 10634 Expanded Anti- Trafficking in Persons Act, and R.A. 9262 Anti- Violence Against Women and their Children Act.

This study inquired on the appropriateness and effectiveness of the existing child protection laws in the Philippines specifically on the implementation of the DepEd Order (D.O.) Order No. 40, s. 2012 referred to as DepEd Child Protection Policy.

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Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Keywords

Child abuse—Philippines; Bullying in schools—Philippines; Child welfare—Philippines

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