The Second Congressional Commission on Education has found that some 10,000 schools have no policies on bullying, even with the existence of the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 of Republic Act 10627, that mandates them to implement such policies.
The Commission has also found a shortage of guidance counselors in schools, and experts say that the prevalence of school bullying has taken a toll on learning among students.
The lack of anti-bullying policies in some 10,000 public schools, as well as the shortage of licensed psychologists and guidance counselors, as reported by EDCOM 2, should be a cause for worry. Its latest findings said there are 10,018 DepEd-run schools with “no localized anti-bullying policies,” despite RA 10627 which mandates elementary and high schools to craft “clear rules and strategies against bullying, including establishing reporting mechanisms and providing counseling services to the victims, perpetrators, and even concerned family members.
EDCOM 2 executive director Karol Yee noted the impact of bullying on a student’s performance in major subjects as shown in an international assessment. “Students who were never bullied scored 351 in math, while those who reported being bullied weekly scored 269. In science, those who were not bullied scored 318, while those who reported being bullied weekly scored 214,” he said, citing the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study by the US Department of Education.
“Aside from depriving our students of a safe school environment, there really are tangible effects of bullying among our students,” he added.
Data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) indicated a high incidence of bullying in the Philippines, with a third of students in 2022 reporting being subjected to bullying at least once a week. DepEd’s own monitoring showed that a total of 7,742 bullying cases, including physical, social, online, and gender-based forms, were logged for the school year 2022-23.
The shortage of guidance counselors, as raised in earlier findings, is another factor that prevents public schools from fully complying with the mandated anti-bullying policies. EDCOM 2 estimates that it would take up to 14 years to fill the 4,460 current vacancies for guidance counselors nationwide, as there are not enough graduates for the position which requires at the least, a Master’s degree.
Bullying has been so much a part of growing up as Filipinos that it has become normalized, especially during the previous administration where we allowed the country to be led by a man who stylized himself as a bully, both in word and in deed.
Now that bullying is no longer cool once more, perhaps we can be hopeful that government institutions like the DepEd will work harder to make anti-bullying policies the norm in all public schools, along with making counseling and medical intervention available, both for the young victims and misguided tormentors alike.*
