By MERLINA MALIPOT
Education Secretary Leonor Briones on Monday vowed to make the school and the officials involved liable for failing to protect the rights of their students amid the controversial burning of bags incident in a private school in Camarines Sur in Bicol.
Briones, in a phone interview stressed that DepEd has been strictly monitoring the development regarding the incident that happened at the Bicol Central Academy (BCA) in Libmanan, Camarines Sur.
The school administrator-owner identified as James Jaucian reportedly ordered the burning of students bags for not complying with the “no-bag” policy during a school event. Additionally, a video of him berating students are currently making rounds online along with photos of the burned bags and other properties of the students.
On Sunday, Briones said that she already received the partial report on the incident from DepEd Region 5 Regional Director Gilbert Sadsad. She also instructed the regional director “to go to the school to investigate himself” and that DepEd is “expecting a more comprehensive report on the incident” after the said visit.
Despite the incident, said the DepEd is not yet making a recommendation to cancel classes because the school calendar will be affected.
“We have graduating kids there… it’s the administrator who is at fault so why should the students suffer?” said Briones.
“I would not want the classes to be derailed. He [school administrator] should be persuaded that he takes the leave and not the children because if he is not there, he cannot do anything,” she added.
Meanwhile, Briones noted that DepEd will try to make sure that the BCA will take action – particularly in the matter of choosing the school administrator,” said Briones.
