MANILA, Philippines — Students, teachers, and non-teaching personnel have been traumatized by the clash between government troops and the New People’s Army (NPA) near a school in Placer, Masbate province, the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Tuesday.
DepEd spokesman Michael Poa said 55,000 learners and 2,815 teaching and non-teaching personnel were affected by the clash and were given “psychological first aid” after the incident.
“It is really a traumatizing experience for our learners, teachers, and non-teaching personnel,” he said in a press conference.
“Protocol naman natin ‘yung na pag may nangyaring ganito, once they’re brought back to school, nagkakaroon talaga ng psychological first aid,” Poa added.
(Our protocol is that when something like this happens, they are given psychological first aid once they’re brought back to school.)
He said they are still monitoring to see if there are students and personnel who are too traumatized from the incident and refuse to return to school.
“We are not discounting that so we’re monitoring the situation to see if there’s a need to give further aid in terms of psychological assistance,” the DepEd official said.
In terms of infrastructure damage in schools, Poa said that while they have yet to receive full reports on the ground, one school in Masbate was reported to have sustained damage during the clash.
“Although wala pa tayong malaking balita in terms of infrastructure damage, grabe naman ‘yung trauma na naramdaman ng ating learners, teachers, ng non-teaching personnel nung nagpuputukan na sa labas ng paaralan,” he said.
(Although we don’t have dire reports on the infrastructure damage, the incident was traumatic for learners, teachers, and non-teaching personnel, especially when they heard gunshots outside the school.)
He also assured the public that affected schools had deployed alternative delivery learning modes so that classes for students will continue.
Poa said the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the local government units have committed to protect schools against such attacks.
No need for loyalty check among teachers
In the same press conference, National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) Secretariat Executive Director Ernesto Torres Jr. said there is no need for a “loyalty check” among teachers.
“I don’t think there is a need to have a loyalty check on our teachers because the majority of them are really committed to really educate our children,” he said.
For his part, Poa said teachers have the freedom to join organizations, but the DepEd is discouraging teachers from engaging in illegal activities.
Two soldiers and a minor were wounded in an explosion on March 22, which led to a firefight between 2nd Infantry Battalion troops and communist rebels near a public elementary school.
The Commission on Human Rights earlier “strongly condemned” the NPA’s use of improvised explosive devices (IED), and even used it near a school.
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