DepEd, police plan security in campuses

Thursday, March 3, 2011

THE Department of Education (Deped) admitted it “overlooked” the need to ensure the safety of students when they leave the campus.

The abduction and killing of Ellah Joy, 6, from her school in Calajoan, Minglanilla, Cebu last Feb. 8 made the DepEd see the need to implement security measures for school children outside their campuses.

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"Before the incident with Ellah Joy, we had security measures but only to secure the students inside the school," Provincial Schools Division Superintendent Arden Monisit told reporters yesterday.

Cebu Provincial Police Office Officer-in-Charge Louie Oppus asked local governments, the DepEd and the Department of Social Welfare and Development to help protect the children from kidnappers.

Oppus said he is alarmed by reported kidnappings in different schools in Cebu, although many turned out to be false.

Info campaign

“It is alarming in the sense that it created panic,” he said.

Police found that the reported kidnapping of a child in Toledo City last Monday was concocted by a student who did not want to attend her class.

Oppus said there is a need for an information campaign in schools and in the community.

He urged schools not to release schoolchildren without their parents and to remind them not to talk to strangers.

He said children should be advised to scream for help when in danger and to carry whistles that they can use to call attention.

Reminders

Oppus said he issued a directive to all station commanders to coordinate with concerned agencies in their areas to carry out the program.

Monisit said he issued a memorandum, asking teachers to let the students recite, at least five minutes before class dismissal, the security reminders DepEd had compiled earlier.

These reminders include not talking to strangers and reporting the presence of dubious-looking persons in the vicinity, as well as any suspicious incidents involving their schoolmates.

Monisit said schools should not allow anyone, other than the parents or guardians of students, to enter the school and pick up students. All visitors should get clearance from the principal.

Monisit said schools are making lists of persons who are authorized to pick up students. An identification card will also be required by schools for those who will pick up the school children.

Fence

He said schools were also asked to have a perimeter fence. For schools with budgetary constraints, bamboo can be used, he added.

The DepEd is also coordinating with concerned barangays to increase the number of tanods who will patrol the schools in their areas of jurisdiction.

The provincial schools division also urged parents to advise their children not to accept gifts from strangers and to go home directly after class.

Monisit said some parents are willing to contribute for the tanods’ honoraria to ensure the safety of their children even outside the campus.

Monisit was in the Capitol yesterday to attend the meeting of the Provincial Local School Board, where Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia announced an increase in the board’s budget from P163 million to P177 million for this year.

Also during the meeting, Garcia said Capitol will also build 200 classrooms in different parts of the province and increase the budget for the purchase of school supplies.