Use ID systems, tanods to keep students safe

Monday, February 14, 2011

SCHOOLS need the help of parents and local government officials in protecting children, Department of Education (DepEd) 7 Director Recaredo Borgonia said.

“The safety of children is too important to be left to schools alone. It should also be a concern among parents and local officials,” he said in a phone interview yesterday.

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Parents should fetch their children from school to make sure they reach home safely.

But if parents cannot do so, teachers should observe security measures like ensuring that small children are accompanied by older children when they go home, added Borgonia.

Calls for tighter security measures in schools emerged following the kidnapping and murder of six-year-old Ellah Joy Pique, a grade one pupil in Minglanilla town.

Pique was kidnapped on her way home. Her body was found wrapped in blankets at the foot of a cliff in Sayaw, Barili town, more than 40 kilometers from where she was taken.

Borgonia said requiring visitors to present their ID in schools will help ensure the security of school children.

“There’s no substitute for vigilance,” he said.

After what happened to Ellah, the federation of Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) presidents in Minglanilla, Cebu outlined measures to secure the students.

In a meeting last Thursday morning, all the PTA presidents from 17 elementary schools in Minglanilla mapped out at least three security measures.

These are: implementing a unified identification (ID) system that will have the pictures of the parents or guardian of the students; putting up perimeter fences around schools; and reminding the parents of their responsibility to secure their children.

Minglanilla PTA federation president Teofilo Omambac also suggested integrating in the classes a daily five-minute lecture on basic security tips that will focus on what the students can do to protect themselves from unscrupulous people.

Omambac, in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu, said he made the suggestion in a separate meeting last Friday with Dr. Arden Monisit of the Department of Education-Cebu.

Monisit reportedly supported the suggestion and assured to issue a memorandum order about it.

Because not all parents, especially those who have several children enrolled in a school, can afford to pay for the photographs that will be used in the identification card, it was agreed during the meeting that the schools will handle the picture-taking and printing of the cards.

Omambac said they have learned that most of the schools in Minglanilla have digital cameras, which will be used for the ID system.

Cebu Provincial Police Office Director Erson Digal, in a separate interview, said the parents should bring and pick up their children from school.

School staff or security personnel should not allow the students to leave the premises until their guardians arrive to pick them up, he added.