The kids are not all right

(First of a series)

With at least one serious case reported every week, violence in schools—in the forms of bullying, hazing and suicide—now compete for media space against murder and mayhem.

Bullying, of course, has always been around. What is new is the violence that often characterizes the incidents.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro pointed out in a recent speech that in his youth, they settled their differences with their fists. Protagonists got bruises and scratches but nobody was seriously injured or killed, he said at the joint observance in World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) in Lipa City by De la Salle University-Lipa and the Natasha Goulbourn Foundation,

Luistro later told the Inquirer that the growing violence against and by students had risen to such an extent that the Cabinet’s Cluster B, to which the Department of Education belonged, had decided to take a closer look at the problem. Members have been asked to submit reports on cases involving students to develop a comprehensive and accurate data base that could guide and illumine policy-making.

Cluster B, chaired by the secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, focuses on human development and poverty reduction.

Luistro said that in the six weeks prior to his speech, he had received reports on five very serious cases of violence, some of them involving deaths.

In August, newspapers carried the story of a 16-year-old boy who brought a gun to San Isidro Night High School in Talisay City, Cebu. The boy reportedly had also pointed a gun at a female classmate earlier.

Later, a Grade 5 student reportedly killed a Grade 1 pupil, hitting the younger boy with a rock, over playing marbles.

One boy pushed another so hard the latter fell, his head hitting a rock, causing his death.

The secretary mentioned a girl who got into an argument with a boy over nonpayment of some school contributions. She killed him in the heat of the quarrel.

And in the month following Luistro’s speech, the media reported about a man pointing a gun at a high school senior at Colegio San Agustin in Makati City who supposedly had a fight with the man’s son.

At Las Piñas East High School, two persons allegedly threatened with a gun a 17-year-old student on campus. The suspects were not even enrolled at the school.

Even more serious was the stabbing of a female University of Santo Tomas student allegedly by coeds of Far Eastern University.

Before the authorities could identify all the suspects in this case, another violent incident was reported, this time at Adamson University, where a student was stabbed by fellow students.

At the current rate, there is at least one serious case of bullying and/or violence every week in the country’s schools. Of course, what the public hears about are only the really serious ones. Many more cases do not get reported, not even to the school officials concerned.

Luistro encouraged students to report bullying and threats of violence.

He said he did not know if the increasing violence involving students was directly influenced by the environment, but from talks with the young suspects in some of the fatal cases, the secretary gathered that living in a dysfunctional setting certainly contributed to the problem.

He found the Makati boy, who caused the death of another by pushing him so hard, was physically abused by his father. The boy also had developed the physique to cause serious harm as he was always sent to fetch water from a pump. Luistro said “he (the boy) was actually training and growing up with violence.”

The other boy, who killed the smaller boy over playing marbles, lived with parents who were constantly fighting. Luistro said he asked the boy why he hit the smaller kid. “My mother said if somebody threatened me, I should hurt him first,” the boy told the secretary.

“All stories of violence are from experiences of violence,” Luistro said. “There is a lack of respect and care for others.”

But the secretary said he still believes that in the Filipino culture, there was no need for violence. Every problem could be talked over. “Nobody has to die or to kill,” he said.

Luistro said that both the bullied and the bullies needed help. While many schools lack guidance counselors because of a law that requires that only those with master’s degrees can hold the job, Luistro expressed the view that this was not the problem, “but rather the lack of institutional response.”

He said a system of child protection should be set up that would include, among others, peer monitoring, peer-to-peer counseling and training teachers, particularly homeroom teachers, to offer any needed assistance. “They do not need to be (professional guidance counselors) to be of help.”

Luistro said there was a need to promote care and concern for each other. “Lahat madadaan sa magandang usapan. Lagyan ng lunas sa puso at isip ang karahasan (Everything can be discussed peacefully.  Heal the aggression that’s in our hearts and minds.).”

At the joint observance of WSPD, experts pointed out that even if bullying did not cause physical harm to the victim, the experience could be so traumatic as to cause severe depression that could lead to suicide.

One of the resource speakers, Dr. Jerry Jurisprudencia of Miriam College, said bullying was a learned behavior and, “like all learned behaviors, it can be changed.”