The Commission on Human Rights joins the international community in commemoration of the International Day of Education today, 24 January 2021.
The third International Day of Education comes in the wake of a pandemic that has left an unprecedented number of individuals without access to education, as well as the widespread interruption of literacy and learning programs that has affected the lives of 1.6 billion students in all over the world. Among those affected are over 28 million Filipino learners across academic levels who have to stay at home and comply with the health quarantine measures.
As the pandemic worsens with the detection of new strains, forcing the continued delay of the resumption of physical classes. Social, economic, and digital inequalities continue to endanger this generation of students the opportunity of education which we know to be crucial for social mobilization and cohesion. Even more concerning are the alleged reports of a ‘Christmas sale’ of sensual photos and videos sold by students on social media sites for as little as PHP150 to help raise funds for distance learning-related expenses. This concerning report follows the increasing trend of online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), which the Department of Justice (DOJ) has found to have spiked by over 260 percent during the COVID-19 lockdown and the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s (AMLC) findings on the doubling of suspicious transactions involving child pornography from the PHP65.8 million booked in 2019 to transactions worth PHP113.1 million reported in the first half of last year.
Celebrating this year’s Education Day under the theme ‘Recover and Revitalize Education for the COVID-19 Generation’ means that all students are provided protection against exploitation and all forms of abuse. As such, the Commission calls upon the Department of Education (DepEd) and schools to continue to ramp up the efforts of Child Protection Committees (CPC) tasked to identify cases of child abuse. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) should equally remain vigilant in ensuring that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) block access to all websites carrying child pornography materials. Failure of ISPs or reluctance to comply to measures that combat online sexual exploitation of children must be sanctioned.
Protection of young people from all forms of abuse is among the obligations of the state. A holistic approach in ensuring the protection of children from all form of abuse also includes ensuring that they are well-informed of their rights and that they receive proper psychosocial support from their teachers and parents.
Teachers should also be given support. As teaching shifts heavily to online means, government must ensure that communication allowances to teachers are provided or reimbursed in a timely manner. For those pursuing learning offline due to limits in internet connectivity, the delivery of modules should be done more efficiently without compromising teachers’ safety towards guaranteeing that every child with no access to the internet is not deprived of education.
At the same time, the Commission recognises the Psychosocial Support and Training for parents, teachers, school heads conducted by DepEd, which aims to teach parents, teachers and non-teaching personnel in protecting the health, safety and well-being of their children. The filing of Senate Bill 735 or the Human Trafficking Preventive Education Program Act by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, which aims to orient Filipino children on their rights and vital protection measures against OSEC, is a welcome move towards this endeavor. ###