THE recent bullying incidents carried out by a student against his classmates at the Ateneo de Manila Junior High School (AJHS) focuses on schools’ enforcement of the country’s anti-bullying laws, of which there is no lack.
However, the incident exposes again how, in the face of failures of families and schools to raise law-abiding youths, matters are made more complicated when social media undertakes to plug the gaps of socialisation, with results that dubiously serve the welfare of the involved minors.
The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) have reiterated that under Republic Act 10627 (Anti-Bullying Act of 2013), it is the schools that have the primary responsibility to prevent any act, statement, or performance using technology that exposes any student in the elementary or high school level to fear of any physical or moral harm coming to his or her person or property.
For many parents and members of the public, the existence of laws and mechanisms protecting children fails to comfort, given that the exposure of the bullying was not initiated by AJHS authorities but by videos posted online that showed an AJHS student attacking his peers.
The statement of school authorities to investigate the matter has failed to satisfy the demands of netizens who have called for dismissal of the student caught bullying on the videos.
A consequence of the case has been the viral spread of the videos and comments posted on social media, which have, among others, named the student and his family, threatened retaliations, and other actions that can be interpreted as acts of bullying, too.
Citing the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the CHR released a statement reminding the public to “protect the privacy of children.”
“It is imperative that the right to privacy and confidentiality of all children involved must always be protected, not only by the school administrators, the parents, other parties concerned, the media, as well as users of social networks,” pointed out the CHR statement.
Instead of ganging up on the involved AJHS student and his family, while the school authorities’ investigation is ongoing, citizens must focus on their own children, schools, and communities.
This is the advice of parents whose children have undergone bullying, according to a Dec. 22 article posted by Rappler.com.
Three out of five Filipino children have been subjected to peer violence, based on the National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children.
The frequency of bullying hides other uncertainties, such as the fear of victims to report the incident to their parents and school authorities. In the AJHS case, one victim of the bullying only sought medical attention to his injuries after the videos came to light.
The trauma from other harm other than the physical may be more difficult to address and heal.
Thus, it is essential that parents must regularly talk with their children and be sensitive to any change in their mood, behavior, or appearance.
“Bullying is progressive. Sometimes, emotional bullying is more difficult to figure out,” Macy Asupan told Rappler. “Make it a habit to talk to your child everyday. Ask about their classmates, who they are, what do they do. Parents can get clues as to how their children relate to their classmates through those talks.”
Parents must never ignore their children when they tell them about being bullied and asks for their help, said Berlin Flores in the same article. “Your child would most likely keep secret further cases of bullying if he or she feels that you are not responsive to such call for help.”
Since a parent may be too emotional to discuss the bullying with the involved classmate and his or her parents, Asupan and Flores advocate working with the school authorities to arrange a meeting of all parties to address the bullying incident.
Breaking the cycle of bullying requires families and schools to work closely to protect our children.