Following a second fatal event on Tuesday that claimed the lives of two junior high school students, education experts in the Philippines have criticized the government’s response to what appears to be an increase in school violence in the nation.
The Educators Forum for Development-Mindanao (EFD-M) requested a rethinking of the reaction to the increasing occurrences of school violence, opposing the government’s security-heavy strategy, while President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered enhanced police presence in schools nationwide.
EFD-M head convenor Sr. Concepcion Gasang emphasized that although government solutions concentrate on “securitization”—or treating this issue as a matter of peace and order—EFD-M maintains that this phenomena comes from a convergence of circumstances requiring deeper research.
According to Sr. Concepcion, children’s mental health is impacted by the digitalization of nearly everything in their lives, including exposure to violent gaming culture. However, she went on to say that the larger context of society’s normalized violence is a greater hardship.
Many of these children in conflict with the law (CICL) aged 14-16 were born around 2010 and came of age in an environment shaped by violent rhetoric and extrajudicial killings during the 2016 Rodrigo Duterte government, along with the explosive rise of social media and violent gaming culture,” the educator clarified.
Citing the nation’s illegal drug problem, which was misrepresented as a peace-and-order issue rather than a public health concern, as an example, the Catholic nun stated that it is the responsibility of educators like her to warn society against repeating past mistakes.
Also Read:
A 100-Ton Assistance Plane Takes Off Operation Chivalrous Knight 3’s Ras Al Khaimah Airport for Gaza
The Next Era of Luxury Eyewear from the Lens of Mohamad Jomaa
