DO TEACHERS still feel empowered to instill discipline in their students nowadays?
I hate to admit it but when we talk about the role of teachers today in disciplining the students under their watch, the stakes have not only grown steadily difficult but worse, increasingly dangerous.
Consider this: on August 4, 2025, a Grade 11 student in Balabagan, Lanao Del Sur fatally shot his teacher with a .45caliber gun after receiving a failing grade in a major exam – just another statistic and a tragic proof that teachers are often powerless to respond, and their honest intent to teach students the value of hard work can escalate into violence.
Did you know that as of today, we already have a long list of laws and education policies that were crafted to ensure the safety and dignity of students in the classroom and the school premises? In addition to the constitutional mandate (1987 Constitution, Article XV, Sec. 3 (2), we also have 11 pieces of national legislations and a total of six department orders or administrative issuances from the Department of Education.
All these serve as shields for students. Yet increasingly and quite unfortunately, they have become weapons that are misused, overused and misinterpreted by parents and society, and in the process constraining teachers in the task of instilling discipline. As a result, schools now find themselves blamed for student misconduct while educators are disempowered, and fearful that even a measured and well-intentioned disciplinary action could jeopardize their careers or attract legal repercussions.
As for the protection of teachers? We have House Bill No. 5735 or the “Student Discipline and Teacher Protection Act.” Although still under legislative consideration, it proposes to mandate that DepEd issue official policies on student discipline and provide legal assistance and representation for teachers facing administrative or criminal charges in relation to classroom management.
Over the weekend a former student visited me and as expected, we talked about her good old high school days during my second year as a school principal. We fondly recalled how they all felt and reacted whenever they see me walking from my office to the high school building for my regular rounds. One would shout “Raid!” and everyone would bolt straight to their rooms, go to their respective seats, and then one or two would start sweeping the floor and cleaning the room. “Talakad mu na makapaniking, metung a paswit at mataram a lawe” – that’s all it took for everyone to know that I meant business and enough was enough.
But those days are now but memories from the not-so distant past. Teachers now find themselves restricted, powerless and unmotivated to instill discipline.
Discipline is not punishment but education in disguise. It is vital and inevitable so that schools can prepare students for the real world outside the classroom. Without it, students graduate and move into society as entitled individuals who are unable to cope with authority, deadlines, accountability, or even structured cooperation. A disciplined environment cultivates respect, resilience, and interpersonal order.
The solution lies not in scrapping protective laws, administrative orders and issuances, but in balancing them. We must review and revise policies to clearly delineate acceptable disciplinary actions, provide teachers a robust and continual training in classroom management, and educate parents and communities on the role of discipline in learning. Teachers need legal clarity, institutional support, and trust—not fear.
Discipline teaches more than obedience; it teaches responsibility, selfcontrol, and empowerment. Without it, students and teachers alike remain casualties of good intentions gone wrong. We need to teach discipline responsibly – and let us not forget to protect those who teach.
