MANILA — The Department of Education has decided to transfer to another public school a teacher who was caught hitting Boy Scout students in a viral video.
“Per update of the regional director last night, the teacher agreed to be re-assigned to another school while we are undergoing the fact-finding investigation,” Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla said in a radio interview on Friday.
This, after a video of the teacher hitting and shouting repeatedly at Boy Scout students from Grades 4 to 6 went viral on Facebook on Thursday.
In the video, the students were sitting on the tent floor while the teacher continues to mock and hit a few of them on the head. Some of the students were pulled into the tent by the teacher.
The teacher, who is pregnant, was angry because some of the students have gone missing during the camp-off activity. According to DepEd’s initial findings, the students are from Cutog Elementary School in Reina Mercedes, Isabela.
Sevilla said DepEd is giving protection to both the concerned students and the teacher.
“The learners and the teacher, who are now subject to the judgement of the public, ang gusto po nating sabihin ay ito po (what we want to say is) ay under our school management,” she said.
DepEd has conducted further investigation on the matter to know if the camp-off activity has clearance from them.
“We hope the public will give the due respect na ang eskwelahan alam ang gagawin dito dahil hindi rin po pwede na hindi natin di-disiplinahin ang mga bata. Ang gusto po natin maging responsable ang mga bata but at the end of it all, hindi po natin papayagan na ang pag-didisiplina nang hindi tama, ito po ay dapat (the school knows what to do with this because it is not good that we don’t discipline the children. We want the children to be responsible but at the end of it all, we won’t allow improper ways in disciplining children, this must be) positive and non-violent,” Sevilla said.
She added that the possible punishment on the teacher would depend on the results of the investigation. The teacher might be recommended to undergo anger management treatment or psychological support. She might also be given another assignment or preventive suspension. (Ma. Teresa Montemayor/PNA)
