April 23, 2024

The Department of Education, in partnership with the Stairway Foundation, Inc. launched an e-learning course to better capacitate school-based child protection committees (CPCs).

The DepEd Learner Rights and Protection Office (LRPO) introduced the initiative in commemoration of Safer Internet Day Philippines 2023.

Vice President and Education Sec. Sara Z. Duterte lauded the LRPO for fulfilling its mandate of giving quick aid to learner victims and supporting the Department’s current intervention mechanisms and care coordination.

The e-learning course is composed of five-hour video lessons, s can be accessed through https://www.deped.gov.ph/e-learning-courses/.

It was created to enhance the knowledge and awareness of participants on various child protection concerns that learners might face, and build familiarity and awareness of the various DepEd policies and issuances pertinent to child protection.

“We hope that our regional office focal persons, school division office focal persons, and school Child Committee Protection members across the entire country will benefit from this e-learning course, which can be accessed on DepEd’s LRPO website, which will be redirected to SFI’s e-learning platform,” Atty. Suzette Gannaban-Medina, officer-in-charge of the LRPO, said.

The asynchronous training also aims to clarify the roles and responsibilities of school-based CPCs and enhance their awareness on how to handle child                                                   protection concerns.

A pilot run was conducted from Dec. 16, 2022 to Jan. 31 with 146 CPC members from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao completing the course.

“To dedicate one’s life to child protection is to become a wall that separates children from cruelty, to be the arms that embrace them in times of uncertainty, and the hands that guide them towards a brighter future,” Usec. for Operations Revsee Escobedo said. – Press release