SAFE SCHOOLS
EVANGELINE B. NAVARRO
THE Department of Education (DepEd) fully accepts and strongly endorses the Safe Schools Declaration cognizant of the State’s responsibility to maintain the neutrality of schools as zones of peace, and to protect learners, teachers, personnel, and community members from attack by state and nonstate armed groups
During the High-Level Social Development Goals Action Event on Education at the UN Headquarters in New York last June 28, DepEd Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said that whatever is happening in the country, whatever challenges we are facing, education must continue. She further said that education cannot wait, our learners cannot wait. She further said that we need to continue with the process so we can give hope and continuity, and contribute to the normalization of activities in the country.
DepEd reiterated the necessity of adhering to Department Order 44, series of 2005, or the Declaration of Schools as Zones of Peace particularly on June 4, days after the Marawi siege erupted and firefights near schools in Mankayan, Benguet, ensued.
The DepEd secretary emphasized that worldwide, schools are universally treated as neutral zones despite being in the middle of areas of intense armed conflict and are free from the presence of armed combatants, regardless of what side they are from. She added that it is imperative that this point be stressed, and that our schools be accorded the same respect – that schools are places of learning, caring, and nurturing - a true second home for our students.
Secretary Briones concluded that by joining the Safe Schools Declaration, states commit to undertake several common-sense steps to make it less likely that students, teachers, schools, and universities will be attacked, and to mitigate the negative consequences when such attacks occur. She said that DepEd and the entire government must ensure that education will continue despite the incidents of unrest. Education cannot wait, the Filipino learners cannot wait, education must continue.
— oOo— The author is Master Teacher I at Angeles City National High School