THE Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking (Iacat)-Davao urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to include human trafficking in their curriculum to empower the youth and develop their self-worth to combat the modern-day slavery through a holistic approach.
Davao Regional Prosecution Office deputy prosecutor Barbara Mae Flores said Monday, March 27, that one of the solutions that they have cited in order to address the increasing number of trafficking in person (TIP) is to tap the education sector in providing adequate information for the students about human trafficking.
"In Iacat, one of the solutions that we wanted to achieve or to resolve the problem especially with regards to teenage prostitution is to involve Deped," she said.
Flores said they are targeting students, who are most vulnerable to this form of abuse, in order to equip them with knowledge on the adverse impact of TIP as well as to uphold their rights against traffickers.
Including trafficking in the curriculum will help them easily understand what the human trafficking issues are, which requires intensive discourse and how it can be addressed by different agencies.
In this way, the concept of TIP will be thoroughly discussed by the teacher which will give the students an idea of its negative effects.
"I think we need to ask also the help of DepEd if they can also include that in their curriculum to inculcate to the children ‘yong value nila (their value) as a human being," she said.
"It is necessary for DepEd to include it in their curriculum," Flores said.
It is no longer about poverty that becomes the main problem why these activities continue to persist nowadays, Flores said, but also the lack of moral value of the children with their selves.
Children have always been the target of recruiters because of their innocence as they could easily be swayed away by false promises without knowing what lies ahead, thus, this program will be helpful in raising awareness among the students to be well-informed.
Flores also attributed the rising number of reported tip victims now to the awareness being instilled in the public who are there to quickly report any trafficking case, explaining further that law enforcers are now accessible to accommodate their concerns. (with ICT)