Education in crisis: Hazing, bullying, and sexual harassment

On top of the usual spectacles of collapsing classrooms and dilapidated school buildings, of classes held under mango trees by overworked, underpaid, and forgotten school teachers, of usurers preying on the salaries of these poor teachers, of pupils who do not know how to read and write, the schools now are facing a huge crisis, there is violence, bullying, hazing, and sexual harassment. We have not heard any decisive words from, much less action by, DepEd or CHED. Their silence is deafening.

School buildings have collapsed after too many disasters. Many classes are still held under acacia or mango trees, or in abandoned garages or sidestreets. Many teachers and principals still beg for donations to repair school facilities. Teachers still buy teaching aids and basic classroom materials out of their own funds. The students' learning quality has gone down the drain. Thousands of pupils do not know how to read and write. Teachers are still demoralized, demotivated, resentful, and feeling unsupported. The Senate Blue Ribbon discovered that the millions allocated for the purchase of laptops under the former DepEd secretary, were squandered and allegedly feasted upon by vultures among DepEd officials and contractors. Amidst all these, there is a thunderous silence from the DepEd leadership.

And then, to make matters worse, violence and sexual harassment were made and even exacerbated by one frat murder in Metro Manila and another in Cebu. If the DepEd secretary really wants to become president of the country, she must do something decisive, impactful, and draconian to address the unusual upsurge of violence, bullying, and sexual harassment in the basic education and high school levels and urge CHED to address despicable murders of the young through hazing. The president should instruct both Inday Sara and Popoy de Vera to clean up their turf, for this resurgence of too much anger and hatred in schools is giving this government a really bad image. If the president is too busy hobnobbing with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden, Joko Widodo, and Anwar Ibrahim then somebody in the Palace should gently remind the CHED and DepEd to be on their toes.

Another college student from another Catholic university was murdered and buried in a shallow grave in Cavite, allegedly by fraternity brothers who lovingly expressed their fraternal love by killing a neophyte by no less than 60 alleged strikes with wooden paddles. All in the name of fraternal love and brotherhood. Wow. A few years back, the only son of a middle-class couple was also murdered by his elder brothers in a so-called pontifical university where Dr. Jose Rizal, and Presidents Quezon, Osmeña, and Macapagal studied. Fraternity killings used to be the monopoly of the famous State University in Diliman and another famous law school in Katipunan, Quezon City. It might just be a coincidence that murders by hazing happened in four Catholic universities run by religious fathers. But what is the Catholic hierarchy saying about this menacing phenomenon?

A young high school student in another Catholic school in Alabang, Muntinlupa, jumped from the building and died on the spot. No DepEd official came out to talk about it. Small schoolchildren in exclusive schools for boys are seen on national TV exploding their stress, anxiety and anger against each other by physically inflicting contusion, abrasions, and hematomas as their expression of brotherly fellowship. Where was the school security and what has the administration done about this? Public school teachers in Cavite and elsewhere were charged with sexually molesting their pupils. What happened to those cases? Many of the accused were just suspended and are now back in the classrooms. Who knows what they are capable of doing again? The DepEd secretary, being a woman and a mother, should be the first to denounce these shenanigans but her silence is deafening.

The children are the future leaders of the land. Education is a vital component of their development and growth. Officials entrusted with the leadership of education are entrusted with tremendous responsibilities. They cannot just shrug off and let the crisis die a natural death. They need to do something decisive, strong, and impactful. And they need to tell the people about these. Silence cannot be the refuge of leaders, especially those who have ambitions to govern the whole nation. If they cannot manage the micro, how about the macro? The whole country is watching. They better shape up or ship out.