Amid rising school violence, citizens pitch solutions to keep children safe

• Citizens are seeking practical ways to contribute to child safety in schools, emphasizing community-led actions and collaboration across sectors.
• Participants highlighted the need for resources and training for parents, educators, and social workers to address child safety and mental health effectively.
• There is a call for stronger government policies and funding to support child protection initiatives, as safety is viewed as a shared responsibility among parents, educators, and the government.

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MANILA, Philippines — While addressing school violence often involves broad nationwide approaches, what can individual citizens do to help keep children safe?

National conversations around school violence often center on macro-level interventions, from banning violent video games to lowering the age of criminal responsibility. Beyond these policy-level debates, however, citizens are actively seeking practical ways to contribute.

To provide an avenue for concerned citizens to brainstorm collective solutions, Rappler’s civic engagement arm, MovePH, alongside CyberGuardiansPH and the Mental Health Youth Hub, hosted “Civic Circles: How can we keep our children and schools safe?” on September 10. Civic Circles is a pilot initiative that aims to turn conversations into community-led action. 

Cultivate a culture of ‘kapwa’

During the activity, participants advocated for stronger collaboration across sectors, recognizing that child safety cannot fall onto a single profession’s shoulders.

Participant Marc Rechelle Buntag recommended leaning into the Filipino concept of kapwa (shared identity). “Give spaces to the community so that they can bond together, strive for a better world,” she said.

Buntag added that the issue is “not about guns” but rather the broader culture of violence in the country, which is “propagated by compounding factors such as a culture of impunity, amateurism, and an extractive regime.”

While quick fixes like banning video games are heavily discussed on social media, most participants agreed that student violence stems from deeper issues than simple rage. 

To prevent violence from taking root, participants stressed the importance of fostering a supportive environment starting at home.

Create guide or resources for parents 

Meanwhile, mental health professional Jam Celeste emphasized the need for targeted resources. 

“A specific recommendation is the development of modules that will equip parents, social workers, and teachers for screening and intervention that are trauma-informed and developmentally appropriate,” she said as she recapped the group discussions.

With the rise of digital threats among youth, parent representative Mian Arcega shared that families need greater awareness regarding technology risks and tools to manage them.

“There are parental controls, we just have to know what they are and how to use them… [For example,] Messenger Kids allows you, as a parent, to know who your child wants to be friends with,” she explained.

Diwa Gapuz from CyberguardiansPH further advocated for “more cybersecurity training for parents and schools” alongside positive leisure options like after-school activities and educational digital games.

Navigating parental responsibilities extends beyond digital safety. Jen Gonzales, a parent whose child faced in-person and online bullying, emphasized the need for clear institutional resources and support to handle such issues effectively.

It wasn’t until she escalated the case to the Department of Education (DepEd) and other government agencies that she learned about DepEd’s Child Protection Policy and the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013.

However, rather than receiving the school’s backing, her family was advised to transfer schools. Because of this, she now calls for institutional accountability, hoping that both parents and schools become fully aware of and strengthen the implementation of related policies.

Participant George Oliver echoed this demand, urging the public to mobilize behind child protection policies that often fall by the wayside. 

“We have to make a sound, an alarm to our government to strictly implement all of them,” said Oliver.

Support educators on the front lines

For educator and author Mars Mercado, collaborating with individuals from different sectors provided hope, even as teachers face immense pressure. 

When safety rumors or threats circulate, Mercado recalled that they are often left without immediate answers from administrators.

“Left without immediate guidance, teachers are forced onto the front lines of crisis management… we need to be strong and steadfast because we now become the frontliners,” she said in Filipino.

Amplify call for structural solutions

Fellow participant Joshua Allen Miraflor from the psychosocial care and mental health group then highlighted their call for more licensed professionals, widespread training for school staff, and clear referral mechanisms.

These calls for resources underscore deep systemic problems across schools. Physical school infrastructure, as noted by many educators during the discussion, remains

far from where it should be.

Schools, whether private or public, still suffer due to broken doors, unsafe stairwells, and inadequate perimeter gates.

“Some people have a misconception… not all private schools are financially capable. We also need better government policies that will help us,” said an educator from what she described as a “small private school that relies solely on enrollees.”

Safety measures, therefore, have already forced significant compromises in their classes.  

For instance, because some schools have banned sharp yet basic supplies like scissors and pens, teachers have had to assign creative projects as homework. “This sometimes affects or limits the students’ hands-on creativity,” one educator explained in Filipino.

Others noted that strict bans do not fully solve the issue, as students still manage to hide sharp objects inside items like water tumblers.

Towards the end of the discussion, participants acknowledged that they can only do so much without the government’s backing.

Safety, the event showed, is a shared responsibility—one that requires appropriate parenting, equipped educators, and of course, dedicated government policies and increased funding.

As such, amplifying these causes can still be a big help. For one, MovePH continues to advocate for more civic participation to stop school violence. 

MovePH outlined concrete steps from the discussion, offered facilitation guides for local communities to bring Civic Circles to other regions, and invited the public to continue the discussion via its dedicated Education chatroom on the Rappler app. 

Interested to participate or support any of these suggested next steps? Email move.ph@rappler.com. —  with reports from Jene Pangue/Rappler.com

Lyndee Buenagua is a journalist who primarily covers Bicol and Baguio City. She is also an alumna of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship of Rappler for 2024 and a MovePH intern.