With the goal of protecting young people from harmful content, including those that glorify violence.
Speaking at a multisectoral forum on preventing nihilistic violent extremism (NVE) at the University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P), on Friday, November 6, Education Secretary Sonny Angara made a public callout to companies.
Emphasizing the government’s resolve to pursue long-lasting solutions against school violence, the official urged tech and social media companies to enforce stricter age-verification controls and remove online content that glorifies violence and targets young learners for radicalization.
“We agree that we need stronger safeguards against these terrorist recruitment groups, online groomers. We need to protect our children online, and we really need stricter firewalls, not systems where a child who isn’t even in high school can just click that they are 18 years old. That cannot be allowed,” Angara said.
He also shared that some social media companies have already reached out to DepEd for discussions about strengthening safeguards in online spaces.
Recently, the Department of Education (DepEd) formed a task force with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) child protection units to monitor emerging risks.
The education chief thanked the government agencies and international and local partners for their solidarity in addressing school safety and digital threats.
Following the string of incidents, DepEd has improved school security, strengthened learner support, and bolstered emergency response systems.
Included in its initiatives meant to combat the problem are increasing adding number of schools with security personnel, metal detectors, perimeter fences, and CCTV systems.
DepEd also made a landmark partnership with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to deploy barangay watchmen (tanod) to support campus security and police visibility.
“We must remember that while we actively stand guard and protect our children in the physical world, we also need to do the same online. We need to build stronger communities and better relationships with our learners,” he added.
Thus, to support these efforts, DepEd also expanded the Kaagapay Program to guide parents in safeguarding children online alongside promoting mental health awareness and identifying red flags on bullying
The agency also strengthened the “My Buddy System” and school clubs, organizations, scouting and sports to give learners positive spaces to participate.
