EDITORIAL - Still a bullying capital

The country passed an anti-bullying law, Republic Act 10627, way back in 2013. RA 10627 requires all public schools from kindergarten to high school to adopt policies addressing bullying.

Thirteen years since the enactment of the law, what’s the progress in its enforcement?

Disappointing, like most laws in this country. This is illustrated in a case that drew the attention of the Senate committee on education.

A viral video showed a female student being shoved repeatedly by a classmate in their classroom during lunch break on Feb. 18 in a public school in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur. The girl was punched, kicked in the head and struck with a backpack.

Senators were informed that other students and even a teacher were aware of the incident, but the case was reported to the regional office of the Department of Education only three days later.

An official of the Municipal Social Welfare and Development office also said they stepped in only after the video went viral because the school never formally reported the incident.

A senator cited the fear of school administrators that their performance ratings would drop if bullying cases are reported. This, however, could lead to chronic underreporting of the problem and impunity.

Long before the fuel crisis erupted and the public works corruption scandal eroded public trust in government, the nation already faced a serious crisis in education.

In the three times that the country participated in the Program for International Student Assessment, the results consistently showed Filipino 15-year-old students landing at the bottom in terms of mathematics, science and reading competencies.

Among the reasons cited is that the Philippines has become the bullying capital of the world. The Philippines had the highest number of bullying cases reported among about 70 economies that participated in the 2018 and 2022 assessments administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Besides the weakness of reporting protocols for bullying, the public school system also suffers from a lack of mental health professionals or trained guidance counselors. In many schools, teachers or school administrative personnel double as student counselors. Other schools don’t have anyone assigned to promote learners’ mental health.

More funding for education could allow the public school system to hire mental health professionals. After the scandal over the institutionalized theft of the national budget, lawmakers must give education the top funding priority mandated by the Constitution instead of kickback-rich public works projects.