Agony in Silence: Child Abuse Perpetrated by Teachers in Selected Higher Education Institutions

Child abuse takes place not only at home but also in the outside environment of the child particularly at school. Thus, this study, employing the descriptive design, was conducted to determine the occurrence of child abuse incidents at school. The respondents were the randomly sampled college students of a state university and a private college. A researcher-made survey questionnaire and an interview schedule were used for data gathering. The data were analyzed and interpreted using percentage, mean, t-test, and chisquare. Results reveal that there were incidents of child abuse at school - the state university having more incidents than the private school - and that the most common type of abuse was verbal. There were more unreported child abuses than the reported ones. As to awareness, the most known law among the students was RA 7610 while the least known was the UNCRC. While more than half of the respondents were aware of the laws, a large proportion of the respondents were unaware of the laws. The respondents found satisfactory the extent of implementation of the school measures against child abuse.

Keywords: Child abuse, child protection, school child abuse measures