Division of San Juan Participates in the Launching of the Primer for PDET

The delegates from the Division of San Juan City composed of Dr. Joel T. Torrecampo, OIC, Office of the Schools Division Superintendent, Dr. Emma A. Sendiong, Education Program Supervisor for Guidance/Values Education, Dr. Felicito M. Angeo, School Head Kabayanan Elementary School, Dr. Nonita Y. Sajo, School Head, Pedro Cruz Elementary School and Ms. Divine Dagnalan of Kids World who represented Mr. Paul Yap for the Private Schools of San Juan City attended the Launching of the Primer on Positive Discipline for Everyday Teaching: A Primer for Filipino Teachers held at DepEd NCR Conference Hall, June 6, 2016.

The program proper started at 8:30 in the morning with the singing of the National Anthem and Prayer for the Lord. It was followed by Welcome Remarks of Atty. Alberto T. Muyot, Undersecretary, Department of Education.

He recalled that during the draft of the Child Protection Policy on School Year 2012, they went through a lot of process such as planning, review and implementation. They involved internal and external stakeholders to make the policy multi-sectoral. According to him, it was participated in by 1,200 accredited trainers of CPP. The trainings include Basic Child Protection Orientation and after which Division and School-Based Seminar-Workshop were also conducted. He reiterated that the Child Protection Policy defends the right of twenty-two (22) million school children from abuse, violence, exploitation, discrimination, bullying, and other forms of abuse.

Atty. Muyot also quoted from his message that he hopes that through the continuing efforts of the Department and all partners and stakeholders, the policy on zero tolerance for any act of violence against children in school, including corporal punishment, enshrined in the DepEd Child Protection Policy (Department Order No. 40, s.20120, shall be observed and implemented more effectively.

Another message was given by Ms. Rowena Cordero, Deputy Country Director for Program Development and Quality, Save the Children. She underscored that corporal punishment is one of the major concerns in the Department and this caught the attention of the United Nations Convention for Children. According to her, children have no equal protection like adults. She also added that recent studies and surveys show that there are more effective ways to teach children without doing them any harm and corporal punishment leads to serious negative effects in the lives of the children and it should be addressed at once. The Primer gives practical tips and guidelines to our teachers and parents as well on how to manage Positive Discipline for the protection of our children. She ended her talk with the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child”.

Another equally significant message was delivered by Mr. Edicio dela Torre, President, E-Net Philippines. He inspired the teachers and educators to use positive discipline approach in disciplining their learners.

It was followed shortly by the highlight of the event, The Launching of the Primer for Positive Discipline in Everyday Teaching led by the Secretary of Education, Brother Armin Luistro.

The Dep-Ed Regional Officials, Schools Division Superintendents, Education Program Supervisors, School Heads and other educational stakeholders wrote their personal messages in the manifesto to show their full support to the program.

Ms. Wilma Banaga, Child Protection Adviser, Save the Children, said that the Primer for Positive Discipline in Everyday Teaching meant to be a reference material to remind teachers of the negative effects of punishing children. She encouraged the teachers to apply the problem-solving approach instead of the punitive approach which is considerably detrimental to the developmental stage of a child. She believes that practicing the non-violent approach will surely improve the quality of learning in our country.

Mr. Peter Mallonga and Ms. Zaida Padullo, School Heads, tackled the need for Positive Discipline in Everyday Teaching and even shared their life-changing experiences as representatives from Teachers Trained.

Before the program finally concluded, Brother Armin A. Luistro quoted a simple message to ponder, “The book collapsed into one thing and that is love and love can shout straight to the heart and let it become viral”.