DURING OUR time at the Macabebe Central School, it was common to hear parents entrust their children completely and wholeheartedly to their teachers. The way they put their full and unequivocal trust on their children’s second parents is one for the books – “Ikayu na pung bahala keng anak ku, ma’am. Disiplinan ye pung masalese nung masyas ya buntuk, barugan ye pu nung kailangan. Ali kayu mu pu sana tutud keng buntuk na. Ali ku pu kunsintiyan ing kamulangan ning anak ku.”
Sadly, this is now a thing of the past.
With RA 7610 hovering over teachers’ heads as a constant reminder of the paramount need to protect the rights and welfare of students, disciplining students today has become a difficult, tricky, and frustrating path to take.
Compounding the situation is the parents’ penchant for resorting to social media to air their so-called grievances instead of sitting down with the concerned teachers to discuss and resolve the issues at hand. Despite the presence of a school’s grievance committee, some parents go straight to the police station or worse, air their complaint on national TV without even thinking of the repercussions of their fifteen-minute fame on the school and most especially on their child.
True, corporal punishment has no place in any educational institution. The passage of RA 7610 stemmed from a sensational case in the late 80s when a public school teacher put an erring student inside a cabinet and forgot about it, then returned the next day to find the lifeless child trapped inside the cabinet.
Admittedly there are some teachers in the past who faltered in their interpretation of student discipline. But the Department of Education has not been remiss in instructing and reminding all educational institutions to protect the rights and uphold the welfare of all learners. On top of the issuance of related orders and memoranda, various training and workshops have been launched to capacitate teachers in understanding the effects of physical, verbal, and mental abuse on students and in crafting positive approaches of instilling discipline among students.
Sometimes I couldn’t help but think that most parents have not really understood and embraced the overly used description of the school as a child’s second home and the teachers as his/her second parents.
The values that are supposed to be taught first at home should be reinforced in school. So, when teachers call out students for their habitual tardiness and absences, or late submission of output, they are not humiliating them; they are teaching them responsibility. When teachers require students to finish and submit requirements in the different learning areas, they are not making their high school life stressful and difficult; they are teaching them focus and time management. When teachers call out students for posting inappropriate photos on their personal social media accounts, they are not intruding into their privacy; they are teaching them self-respect.
More often than not, society is quick to blame the schools for today’s youth who lack the basic “good manners and right conduct.”
But come to think of it, teachers now find their hands tied when instilling discipline on their students. The littlest of mistake in approach, in a single word or even in an innocent gesture can cost them their license and their reputation. Parents are so entitled nowadays that they have this propensity to make mountains out of a molehill of an incident.
When parents and students resort to social media or the “maritess” approach to ridicule, defame, and slander the school and the teachers, the latter are always at the losing end. Their silence is interpreted as an admission of guilt. If they resort to social media to respond to the accusation, they are called unprofessional. And the worse part? When the dust has settled and the teachers are proven right, they are advised to be compassionate, forgiving and understanding. After all, the student is just a minor and is not fully aware of the consequences of his/her actions; and the parent is, well, a parent who is emotional who just wants to do anything to protect his/her child.
Don’t you think it’s about time that we also find ways to protect our teachers?
