SAFETY OF LEARNERS A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY

CHRISTINE M. SUMANDAL

The Department of Education (DepEd) firmly believes that protecting students from the dangers the internet poses and providing them meaningful access to digital tools that let them exercise their civil, political, economic and social rights to the fullest extent possible are imperative.

With this, the Department, in partnership with the Stairway Foundation Inc. (SFI), launched an e-learning course to better capacitate school-based Child Protection Committees (CPCs).

The said initiative was introduced by the DepEd Learner Rights and Protection Office (LRPO) during the commemoration of Safer Internet Day Philippines 2023.

Vice President and Secretary of Education Sara Z. Duterte lauded the LRPO for fulfilling its mandate of giving quick aid to learner victims and supporting the Department’s current intervention mechanisms and care coordination.

The e-learning course is composed of at least five-hour video lessons, subdivided into 15- to 30-minute discussions of identified significant topics and can be accessed through https://www.deped.gov.ph/e-learning-courses/.

It was created to enhance the knowledge and awareness of participants on various child protection concerns that learners might face, and build familiarity and awareness of the various DepEd policies and issuances pertinent to child protection.

The LRPO hopes that regional office focal persons, school division office focal persons, and school Child Committee Protection members across the entire country will benefit from this e-learning course, which can be accessed on DepEd’s LRPO website, which will be redirected to SFI’s e-learning platform.

The LRPO also reminded stakeholders that the safety of our learners—both online and offline—is a shared responsibility.

Moreover, the asynchronous training also aims to clarify the roles and responsibilities of school-based CPCs and enhance their awareness on how to handle child protection concerns.

A pilot run was conducted from December 16, 2022 to January 31, 2023 with 146 CPC members from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao completing the course.

-oOoThe author is Teacher II at Sitio Culubasa Elementary School