Teachers play a vital role to abused children

Vilma P Lacanilao

To restore the safety of the lives of the abused children and start a healing process, classroom teachers play a vital role as they have the opportunity to identify who are the abused among their students.

Classroom teachers have different roles to the school children. Most of the time, they serve as therapist, educator, school psychologist, and administrator. They have full of experience in school setting, hence, they have a better understanding on the behaviour of students especially those who have been and continue to be abused.

Normally, abused children are trusting on one in school except their beloved and caring teachers.

As trusted teachers, they have all the chances to identify abused children and they are in a better position to start a healing process and restore safety and self-confidence in the world of the abused.

However, not all teachers are prepared and have the adequate skills in dealing with the complex social issues that have strongly affected the abused children.

Hence, there is a need to train and empower the classroom teachers with knowledge and adequate information about child abuse, possible interventions and how to communicate an understanding of the emotional issues involved.

Other forms of abuse are Physical abuse, Emotional maltreatment, Physical neglect and, Sexual abuse. Most adults who have not been abused would rather not accept the reality of the number of children who have been abused. Many prefer to think of physical injury, terrorizing, and psychological torture as atrocities that only happen to hostages imprisoned in foreign countries

The author is Teacher

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II at Mandili II Elementary School in the Municipality of Candaba, Pampanga.