Child Protection Unit
Remedios Causo Jalbay
THE Department of Education (DepEd) has issued a policy on the creation of the Child Protection Unit (CPU).
The CPU falls under the Office of the Undersecretary for Field Operations, Palarong Pambansa Secretariat, and DepEd Employees Associations Coordinating Office and the Child Rights in Education Desk (CREDe) under the Office of the Undersecretary for Legal Affairs in the Department.
Pursuant to the 1987 Constitution, the State shall protect and promote the right of all children to accessible and quality basic education. Alongside this right is the constitutional policy that the State shall promote and protect their holistic development through the promotion of their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being.
The 1987 Constitution and other domestic and international laws, primarily the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, guarantee a range of rights of children to promote their overall well-being.
Among the rights of the child in basic education are the right to education, right against discrimination, right to health, right
to participation and to have one's views heard, right to religion, right to rest and play, and right to protection against all forms of violence, abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, and maltreatment.
The Department, in upholding the right of the child to special protection and reiterating its policy of zero tolerance for any act of abuse and violence against the child, issued DepEd Order No. 40, s. 2012 titled Policy Guidelines on Protecting Children in School from Abuse, Violence, Exploitation, Discrimination, Bullying and Other Forms of Abuse, also known as the DepEd Child Protection Policy.
The Department fully recognizes the rights of the child and takes proactive measure to uphold not only the right of the child to special protection but also the other rights of the child in the context of basic education.
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The author is Teacher II at Tagulod Elementary School, Tagulod, Candaba
Pampanga