VP Sara: Be wary of school sex abuse
A DepEd order has been issued to this end, a nagging reminder for teachers to keep their students at arm’s length amid efforts to balance protecting students from harassment
Vice President and Department of Education Secretary Sara Z. Duterte issued another warning against “harmless” situations where teachers get sexually involved with their students, a “cultural issue” that has recently provoked greater revulsions.
Coming at the heels of a learner-safety redress system, Duterte said that the DepEd will use all available levers to curb the number of appointments at the counseling office, which have ensnared predators and exposed a criminal underworld of sex abuse in schools.
In August, an issue was brought from plain sight allegedly involving six teachers in Bacoor, Cavite, who figured in a supposed online conversation where students were purportedly asked about gay sex and coaxed to try it.
“Some cases were classic examples of ‘sexual grooming,’ a predatory activity primarily by adult offenders who use their position, resources, charm, and influence to carry out their plan against a child or another vulnerable adult,” Duterte said.
A DepEd order has been issued to this end, a nagging reminder for teachers to keep their students at arm’s length amid efforts to balance protecting students from harassment and guaranteeing meaningful interactions in the context of learning.
Here, DepEd employees are encouraged to “avoid relationships, interaction and communication outside of the school setting, except if they are relatives,” owing to the Janus-faced nature of teacher-student relationships on social media and other out-of-school meetings that, when misinterpreted as a refuge, can lead to danger.
“If you are a teacher, you have no business drinking alcohol with your students. And if you are a teacher and you are attracted to a student you are drinking with, that is preliminaries to what you want to do to the child,” Duterte said. “You should be professional because you are dispensing service to these students who are your clients, and therefore you have to be unbiased.”
Aside from gauging the tenor of student conversations in schools, DepEd decreases the likelihood of harm to vulnerable children shooting in the dark when it reaches comfortable limits — a website and a learners-safety hotline that expertly help bring to surface, more so recognize various forms of abuse and awkward encounters.