EDUCATION Secretary Leonor M. Briones has reminded teachers that mental health among students is a “crucial challenge” that they need to address.
Keynoting the launch of the ninth year of the Values Advocacy Program of Fortune Life Insurance Co. recently, Briones advised teachers to be alert to signs of mental health problems among their learners.
The Values Advocacy Program is a project of Fortune Life promoting the values of hard work and discipline among public school pupils in partnership with the Department of Education (DepEd) and advocacy organization Marylindbert International.
Its centerpiece is a textbook entitled, The Value of Hard Work and Discipline, featuring lessons based on the life of Fortune Life Founder Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, who rose from poverty by dint of sheer hard work.
In her extemporaneous speech, Briones cited Fortune Life “for reminding us constantly of the importance of hard work and discipline” at a time when “some of our learners think the easiest way to get rich is through the STL [small town lottery or lotto] stations,” among others .
“Teaching discipline and hard work is more and more difficult and therefore we have to work harder because the temptation to fall into the trap of get-rich-quick schemes, going into debt, gambling and even stealing your classmates’ clothes, shoes, books is quite a very tempting option. Thank you for reminding us of the traditional good old values of hard work and discipline,” she said, addressing Fortune Life officials.
For all the modernization in learning systems, Briones said no one should “forget that at the end of the day what we really need is hard work and discipline….The only difference is that when you are learning chemistry, trigonometry, math and even reading, it is so much more fun now because we are devising more fun ways of learning. Learning need not be too painful if we work at it. We are also having fun and it’s fascinating.”
The DepEd chief cited, meanwhile, how “in the past three years we have made successful inroads in the matter of access. You are all aware that our enrolment rates are rising at more than 1 million new learners every year. Our dropout rate is going down. The access issues we faced before have been resolved thanks to the help of Congress [represented by Rep. Roman Romulo who is present] by providing the resources. All of you are aware that we are now moving from access because we have reached 27.8-million learners…. From access, now our concern is quality.”
She added that the review of the K to 12 program curriculum is under way. “When we started in 2016 we had already implemented by law the senior high-school curriculum which took five years to complete. Now we are reviewing to see if what has been envisioned has been achieved, where innovations must still be added.
We want to know if what we were thinking of at the time we made the curriculum is still applicable in the 21st century.”
Suicides
Briones then underscored what she described as “a very crucial challenge that we are facing in the 21st century…the matter of mental health,” and disputed claims of some critics that the lessons plans are ill-equipped and cause mental health problems, stressing, “you as MAs and PhDs know that our lesson plans do not lead to suicide!”
Mental health, she said, is a global phe-nomenon, and the Philippines “still fortunate that we are not yet in the list of countries with the highest rate of deaths due to mental health.” The United States has that distinction now, and. While suicide was in the past associated with Japan, “Japan is a very low .9 percent, US 12 percent for every 100,000 population,” Briones said.
A basic matter to remember, she added, is that today’s “learners are different from the learners that we were during our time. Learners in high school, even elementary, those born from 1995 onward, Gen Z are young people full of anxiety, fear, because they know so much. They know about Brazil, Indonesia, even the bedroom of many people that we know. Plus interpersonal relations, this is enough to give them anxiety… It’s a very different generation that we are nurturing. As one of our awardees said, it takes a lot of dedication, it takes a lot of attention to take care of our learners.”
Today’s learners, “especially in high school, belong to Gen Z, are wired, and very adept in communication. They know what is happening and they know about what will happen to their future…. Only this week two very young people took their lives, with very bright futures, supportive families, nonetheless they took their own lives, because they see no hope in the world that we their elders have created,” rued Briones.
“Therefore, I urge you as you teach, watch your learners, notice their behavior, we have DepEd orders, memos on bullying, nutrition, health but we need to pay more attention to mental health…it is a very serious challenge to all,” the DepEd chief concluded.
At the October 3 event at the launch of the ninth year of its Values Advocacy Program, Fortune Life Insurance Company conferred the Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Award for outstanding performance to eight teachers, including three honorable mention and five school officials.
The awarding ceremony of “Gintong
Parangal Para sa Guro,” now on its 8th year, highlights the acknowledgement of
teachers, division supervisors and principals who worked assiduously in
promoting the program’s advocacies. This
year’s awardees are Cecilia S. Custodio, Ph.D., Ernesto P. Dizon, Ph.D., both
of Bulacan; Markson B. Mejia of Sorsogon City; Ronaldo C. Reyes of Tabaco City
and Joenary D. Silao of South Cotabato. Honorable mention awardees for this
category are Guillermo J. Flores, Ph.D., of Bulacan; John Patrick G. Lazaro of
Eastern Samar and Gabriel T. Vargas II of Malabon City.
Gintong Parangal Para sa Pamumuno, now on its 3rd year, was awarded to higher school officials from different schools division and district offices. The awardees for this category are Jenilyn Rose B. Corpuz, Ph.D., CESO VI of Manila; Melody P. Cruz, Ph.D., of Pasay City; Bianito A. Dagatan, Ph.D., CESO V of Cebu City; Imelda Sabornido, Ph.D., of Bayugan City; and Felix Romy A. Triambulo, Ph.D., CESO VI of Zamboanga City.
Winners received cash prizes, certificates and trophies awarded by Briones together with Fortune Life President and CEO D. Arnold A. Cabangon, Fortune Life EVP and General Manager Evelyn T. Carada and MaryLindbert International President and CEO Erlinda Legaspi.
Image credits: Nonoy Lacza