The Department of Education (DepEd) recently reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring teachers’ safety and well-being and maintaining schools as zones of peace.
This, after the shooting of Zhydee Bitago Cabañelez, an elementary teacher at the Dalit Elementary School in Valencia City, Bukidnon, on October 15.
Four unidentified armed men attacked Cabañelez and her husband, Ramil, with the pupils still inside her classroom at around 8 a.m.
The husband managed to escape while Cabañelez sustained serious physical injuries.
DepEd Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla and OIC Assistant Secretary for Legal Affairs Alberto Escobarte, said in a statement through Viber that the victims would be provided with financial assistance.
“We have already given financial assistance [to the victims]. We were able to give it through voluntary contributions to their family,” Sevilla added.
Security beefed up in Bukidnon where teacher was shot
Meanwhile, security has been tightened around a public school in a remote village in Valencia City, Bukidnon, following the shooting of Cabañelez.
Dr. Victoria Gazo, Valencia schools’ division superintendent, said village leaders of Sitio Dalit, Barangay Lumbayao, have committed to assign civilian volunteers and zone leaders to serve as security officers at the Dalit Elementary School during school hours.
She said the presence of volunteers would deter possible attacks as what happened to Cabañelez, who is now recuperating.
“During coordination meeting, I requested barangay officials to help in resolving issues on some teachers’ reluctance to continue serving in the school because of fear after the shooting incident,” Gazo was quoted as saying in a Philippine Information Agency news report.
She warned that if no teacher is willing to serve at the school, parents will be forced to send their children to another school far from the village.
“If this happens, it would be very risky for the children to commute due to the rolling terrain and the pupil’s daily crossing in Pulangui River,” Gazo added.
Meanwhile, students who witnessed the shooting have undergone a therapy session.
Gazo said a team of educators with psychosocial skills went to Dalit for a one-day debriefing session to students.
The school is in a community of about a hundred households with four multi-grade teachers handling 51 students.
She said the debriefing facilitators were dispatched on October 9, a day after four gunmen barged into the classroom of Cabañelez.
According to police, Cabañelez was hit on her should and legs while Ramil was unharmed.
During the session, Gazo said the team asked the schoolchildren to draw what they had experienced to assess their emotional level following the incident. The facilitators noted that many of the participants made drawings depicting sadness, she said.
“These drawings that indicate sadness reflect the pupils’ longing for their teacher [Cabañelez]. Many of them told facilitators they missed her,” Gazo said.
Besides the students, the parents also took part in the debriefing.
“Both children and parents were very responsive during the session. The parents were there so they could help us in handling their children’s trauma,” Gazo said.
She said it was important for parents to report to school authorities if they noticed their children are acting strangely so DepEd could help them cope with trauma.
Gazo said she has also ordered Dalit teachers to defer the periodical tests so the pupils could take an early semestral break.
“I don’t think it’s proper for the children to take the exams considering what they have just experienced. It’s best that they should rest and enjoy the one-week break,” she said.
Gazo said the incident was the first time to have happened under her watch.
“We were shocked at what happened. But we still want to send the message that our schools are peace zones,” she said.
Gazo said Cabañelez and her husband are still on official leave while she is recovering from her gunshot wounds.