CHILDREN INSIDE THE WAR
Healing does not come in a snap especially for the children who have witnessed the endless fighting in Marawi City. Once stated in some news, some of the children still face malnutrition and of being unable to return to school. As a result, they may not even catch up every lesson they tackle in their respective schools. Maybe some of them are still in trauma and experiencing psychological and psychosocial problems.
This fight has absolutely affected the lives of the children in Marawi City. Children in these areas need immediate psychological and psychosocial sustenance and support. They are starting to live in constant fear with a decreasing sense of normalcy. Bullets were exchanged and properties were damaged including hospitals and schools. As of June 30, 2018, 30, 346, 199 people have been displaced. Around 16, 268 of them are staying in evacuation centers. There are total of 80 evacuation centers currently available in Iligan City, Baloi, Pantao, Ragat, and Pontar towns in Lanao del Norte.
The Department of education in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has launched the Back-to-School and Stay-in-School programs as part of the rehabilitation to ensure that the children affected by the Marawi conflict will be able to go back to school and access learning through the provision of basic education services, skills training, and peace-building. With regards to their health, the Department of Health provided services addressing mental health issues of affected children including psychological first aid, psychosocial processing, and coping with stress mechanisms. Special supplementary feeds for malnourished children were also conducted. These programs help the children and enable them to attend their classes regularly.
It is important for the administration to achieve its directives to deliver basic services to every Filipinos, young and old, to show that it can offer something more than the blandishments of present problems the country has.
As a leader in an educational setting, it is important to build a healthy and conducive atmosphere in situations like this in order for the children to be interested, motivated and focused in their studies and so they can eventually forget the traumatic experiences they had during the war.