Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to join forces with Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) to strengthen parent involvement in child development and combat bullying.
This was after experts claimed that violence at home contributes to children's engagement in bullying outside and at school.
Gatchalian pushes DSWD and PTA's participation in implementing Republic Act No. 11908, or Parent Effectiveness Service Program Act, to assist all parents in responding to responsibilities, protect children’s rights, support childhood development, and advance their educational progress.
He also pointed out that it would be the most effective way to reach out to the 20 million parents of students.
“You can ride on the existing network of the Department of Education [DepEd] because they already have the PTAs. That is the fastest way of accessing our parents," Gatchalian told DSWD Social Welfare Officer IV Cheryl Mainar during a Senate panel hearing.
"If you have the modules, just partner with the DepEd because the parents are already there. All you need to do is work with the DepEd to mandate the parents to join in the Parent Effectiveness Service,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education (DepEd) has already recorded a total of 264,668 cases of physical bullying in schools only in one year.
There were also reported 7,758 cases of cyberbullying, 7,800 of gender-based bullying, and 17,258 cases of social bullying.
