Commitment to protect children’s rights

John Joseph L. Puno

The Department of Education (DepEd) is committed to uphold every Filipino learner’s right to education and to being learner-centered.

According to the DepEd, its efforts, reflections, projects, and hard work are centered on the child. As a public institution, it continuously improves itself to better serve its stakeholders – the children. With the children at the center, child rights should also be at center stage, the agency said.

Just recently, the virtual Second National Summit on the Rights of the Child in Education was held. The summit highlighted the “Learners’ Hour – Kwentuhan Kasama si Lola Liling at mga Mag-aaral,” which gave an opportunity for learners to ask questions directly to the Secretary of Briones about the implemented policies and future plans of the education agency towards upholding their rights in education amidst the current pandemic.

The summit convened learners in different regions of the country, DepEd officials and personnel, representatives of other government agencies, non-government organizations, business, media, and other stakeholders in education, who listened to statements of commitment and support of education stakeholders from public and private institutions who work together towards the protection of the rights of children.

The event was aimed at reaffirming the commitment of the stakeholders to respect, protect and fulfill the rights of the child, as enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, other domestic laws and rules, and international law, primarily the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC); unpack the various rights of the child in basic education and provide a venue to deepen appreciation of these by both the rights-holders and duty-bearers in a rights-based framework of basic education; and celebrate successes in upholding the rights of the child and identify challenges in their realization to help address them with a whole-of-society approach, including the participation of children themselves as rights-holders.

The DepEd said that every child, no matter how small, is a whole person with dignity and rights. This truth is celebrated during the summit. As duty-bearers, the DepEd is called to respect, protect, fulfil and promote children’s physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social being.

Remember, our youth have a significant role in nation-building that is why every child should have access to education, as stated in Article 28 of the CRC, and that education aims at the holistic development of children under Article 29 of the CRC.

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The author is Teacher III at Porac Elementary School