IN 2019, the Philippines was identified as the highest-ranking country for bullying in a PISA report, a troubling trend reaffirmed by findings in 2022. Despite extensive research, never-ending discussions and a significant rise in violence, particularly in public schools, have we truly devised effective solutions? In 2025 alone, how many teachers and students have lost their lives to school-related violence and bullying? It is alarming that this year, the incidents have become even more tragic, with more stabbing incidents and a rare shooting rampage that we only read about in some states in the United States.
What measures has our country taken in response to the increasing violence and bullying over the years? Thus far, the most noteworthy response appears to be the mere renaming of the previously known “Child Protection Committee” to the “Learner Rights and Protection Office” in the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Anti-Bullying Act. Given the vast financial resources and the collaboration of numerous government entities focused on finding solutions, it is disheartening that it has resulted only in a revision of guidelines.
It is clear that we need more than just an updated set of guidelines to combat this pressing issue. The duty to ensure true discipline and child protection cannot be confined to a committee or a specific group in a school, and fixing this problem requires more than reorganizing, changing membership or changing nomenclature.
At the outset, the substantial foundation must begin at home, with effective parenting practices guiding children’s behavior. Next, educators need the authority to enforce discipline, as they assume the role of special parents under the Family Code when children are under the supervision, instruction or custody of schools.
While tighter security measures and police visibility near schools are some of the immediate responses to the recent incidents, the long-term remedy for bullying and school violence lies in fostering discipline and character development from an early age. It requires the concerted effort of the entire school community, comprising parents, teachers, guidance counselors, schools and the government. They must collaborate to establish a safe learning environment which starts with child discipline and formation.
To effect meaningful change, the following may be adopted by the Department of Education as a framework so that policies are more meaningful and directed toward a clear goal:
First, the empowerment of schools with the rights and responsibilities to enforce appropriate discipline in line with their special parental authority. This means allowing academic judgment to flourish in schools, especially in the private sector, and resisting the pressure to adjudicate every parent complaint lodged in various offices of the Department of Education for the rightful disciplinary sanctions imposed by their school.
Second, the protection for teachers acting as persons in authority, so they can perform their disciplinary duties without fear of reprisal and also promotes their peace and well-being.
Third, strong parental involvement in their duty to cooperate and coordinate with schools in implementing disciplinary policies mandated by the Education Act.
Fourth, enhance support for registered guidance counselors as professionals, equipping them with a central role in guiding students effectively.
Fifth, guard the safety and protection of students against real child abuse and prohibited corporal punishment, while distinguishing this from proper disciplinary actions in schools.
In Angeles v. Sison, the court emphasized that the goal of education is twofold. One is to educate the child, and the other is to shape his character into that of a worthy citizen of the country. Discipline is one of the means of achieving the second goal. For this reason, the role of educational institutions in students’ character formation, as mandated by the Constitution, should not be diminished or set aside by the misplaced implementation of child protection policies.
Paraphrasing the court in Cudia v. Superintendent, to teach our children proper discipline, we have to discipline them properly. To teach discipline, a school must instill discipline.
In the end, discipline is not the enemy of child protection; it is one of the strongest safeguards.