DAVAO CITY – A partylist lawmaker urged government to institutionalize support measures to equip teachers and school personnel in student discipline and classroom management.
ACT Teachers Representative Antonio L. Tinio called for the immediate passage of his House Bill 5735 or the Student Discipline and Teacher Protection Act which proposes support mechanisms including standards, training, guidance counselors, and legal protection, for teachers and school personnel.
“Because school personnel, especially teachers, stand in direct contact with students, they find themselves in situations that could expose them to allegations of child abuse in the course of discharging their duties,” he said.
“They are left to their own devices as to how they should impose order in the classroom and instill discipline on students,” said Tinio.
“Their duties are made heavier because the public school system has no set standards in classroom management, which leads to arbitrary implementation of the law on child abuse,” explained Tinio.
Tinio said the government also does not train them “on the permissible and effective methods of instilling discipline.”
“There are also a few guidance counselors who can act as support personnel, and whenever teachers are charged of ‘child abuse’ while doing their duties, they have to pay for their own legal advice or counsel, or are forced to go through the process without,” he said.
Part of the standards will be a student manual, to be issued by DepEd, detailing school rules, students’ rights and duties in relation to these rules, permissible responses and interventions in cases of violations, and the disciplinary procedure.
