TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines– A kindergarten female teacher from Cagayan in is in hot water after a parent caught a video of her slapping one of her students.
A viral video, uploaded in several social media pages, identified the teacher as from Namabbalan Elementary School in Tuguegarao City.
The teacher was later identified as certain Ruby Jane Atara Badajos.
The video had since garnered tens of thousands of shares and had infuriated the netizens.
In a phone interview on Friday, August 18, Department of Education (DepEd) Cagayan Valley regional director Estela Cariño said they are now looking into the incident.
Cariño said she already tasked the DepEd division head on Tuguegarao City to launch investigation and to conduct a background check of the teacher.
Cariño admitted she only knew about the incident when it became viral in social media on Thursday, August 17.
The Child Protection Committee of the said school will convene on Friday to look into the incident and to know the side of the teacher, who is apparently months pregnant.
She said they are not tolerating the teacher’s action but a “thorough and due process” must be conducted first to “see the mitigating circumstances” and before taking actions against the teacher.
“We have already asked the division office [of Tuguegarao] to send guidance persons to counsel her students because this might not the only time that she went that way,” Cariño told Rappler in a mix of Filipino and English.
She added that although no formal complaints has been filed yet by the parents of the child, the Education department will act on its own based from the video and the statements of the parents.
With this, she advised the DepEd teachers to observe “maximum tolerance” in teaching.
“To all the teachers, as I’ve said, you are the parent of the child within the classroom. The moment you accepted becoming a teacher, you are already accepting or considering those learners as your children. So treat them with tender loving care,” Cariño said. Northernforum.net
