EDITORIAL — Miscommunication, lack of restraint

You might have seen it by now, that viral video of the principal of the Col. Ruperto Abellon National High School in Barangay Guisijanon, Laua-an, Antique, sternly ordering students wearing togas during a graduation ceremony to take them off, or else they cannot get onstage and receive their diploma.

She reasoned that those wearing togas violated Department of Education orders to keep graduation ceremonies simple and inexpensive.

When some students and their parents resisted, she threatened to no longer distribute diplomas and instead told graduating students to get them from her office, before launching in a diatribe about how students should learn about discipline.

The tension further heightened after a student badmouthed her in front of the assembly and had to be restrained by his own mother.

How could all this have been avoided? Proper communication could have helped.

It would seem there was miscommunication between the school and the parents because, according to reports, it was never really finalized if the students were to wear togas or their regular school uniform for the graduation ceremony.

There was also miscommunication between DepEd and the schools because the department is now saying it never discouraged the wearing of togas.

“Under DepEd Order 009 as reiterated in Memorandum No. 027, the prescribed attire for graduation and moving-up ceremonies includes casual or formal wear or the school uniform. The toga or sablay may be worn as an optional supplementary garment,” the department said.

But damage has been done; what was supposed to be a memorable occasion was marred, and the reputation of some people is now in tatters.

This is also an occasion that could have been prevented from escalating by the restraint lacking in so many of us these days. While the principal cannot be faulted because she thought she was merely enforcing a DepEd order, she didn’t handle the situation with the patience expected of a principal.

People cannot be faulted for looking at her like she had gone on a power trip.

And that foul-mouthed student? While he cannot be faulted for his upwelling emotions, his outburst and his choice of language is a poor reflection of his education and upbringing. He isn’t a winner in this either. In that supposedly-happy occasion, no one was.