An international school for toddlers in Makati City is being pressed for liabilities arising from alleged violations of the Department of Education’s Child Protection Policy following an incident wherein a two-year-old child was left unpacified and “traumatized” while under the care of the school.
The child, who was enrolled in a program for preschool children at the Canadian American School in Alphaland, Makati last year was left crying for an hour without any of the teachers being able to pacify the child.
Despite this, however, the child’s nanny was told by teachers to leave the classroom without being able to pacify the child due to a school policy disallowing nannies inside the classroom premises.
After the incident, the parent Rolf Wiltschek, a German national, then brought the child to a pediatric psychologist, who diagnosed the child with ‘emotional trauma’ following symptoms of bedwetting after the incident.
Negotiations between Wiltschek and the school transpired over a period of time, following the demand of the parent to show cause if the school has “child protection policies”in force, pursuant to the DepEd Order No. 40, s.2012.
The school, in various communications sent to the DepEd-Makati Division of City Schools, claimed that the supposed provision of a child protection policy contained in the parent handbook, whom the parent claimed “was never made aware by the CAS.”
“When I enrolled my son or at any other time thereafter, CAS never gave me a parent handbook,” Wiltschek’s letter to DepEd Makati read.
Under the D.O No. 40, s.2012, schools are supposed to “ensure the institution of effective child protection policies and procedures, and monitor compliance thereof,” adding that “all pupils, students or learners, school personnel, parents, guardians or custodians … are made aware of child protection polic[ies].”
The school also accused Wiltschek of being an undesirable alien by filing a complaint before the Bureau of Immigration which was later dismissed by the BI for lack of merit.
The school administration, through documents obtained by The Standard maintained that they have done everything to pacify the child and that child protection policies are in place to protect the children enrolled in the school.
Wiltschek said that the school could have been more responsive and sincere with the concerns of its students, as well as those of its parents.
“I too experienced complete lack of compassion, empathy and accountability for what happened to my son. This may seem as a trivial matter in isolation, but considering that this kind of behavior is becoming a trend amongst schools—the more expensive ones at that—this Department’s orders still should be strictly enforced,” the parent said in his letter to Education Secretary Br. Armin Luistro.
A formal complaint was filed by Wiltschek to through channels for the school’s alleged continued incompliance of the said memorandum order.
The complaint was since then forwarded to the Department of Education, through the Office of the Undersecretary for Legal and Legislative Affairs.