DepEd’s ‘PSL’ program to make public schools, homes safe for children

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) will start the training of elementary and high school teachers to teach “personal safety lessons” (PSL) to make public schools and even homes safe for children.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said that DepEd has partnered with the Center for Prevention and Treatment of Child Sexual Abuse (CPTCSA), the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Philippine National Police for the PSL program.

“With the PSL program, we hope to protect our school children from sexual abuse and exploitation while in school and even in their homes by teaching them about the forms of molestation,” Lapus said.

Under the PSL program, children will be taught to identify forms of molestation such as  “unwanted touching” by adult or by other children, how to avoid them and what to do when they find themselves in such situation.

Lapus said the program was seen as a preventive strategy against sexual abuse and exploitation.

The program aims to train more than 400,000 public school teachers on teaching PSL to school children in one to two years.

DepEd, Lapus said, was relying on the expertise on PSL of the CPTCSA which has been following several cases of sexual abuse including the case of a diplomat allegedly caught molesting children in a parking lot in one of Mega Manila’s popular malls.  –Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star)