By Rjay Zuriaga Castor
The Department of Education Western Visayas (DepEd 6) issued a show cause order against a teaching personnel involved in the death of a learner from Maasin town earlier this May.
This development was confirmed by Dr. Ernesto Servillon Jr., SDO Iloilo superintendent, in a phone interview with Daily Guardian on Monday, June 17.
Servillon said his office received a letter from the regional office on June 11, requesting an explanation from the teacher involved in the incident.
The letter was in response to a verification report that SDO Iloilo submitted to the regional office on May 29.
“We immediately forwarded the show cause order to the teacher. As of now, we are still waiting for the teacher’s explanation,” he said, emphasizing that the ongoing case has already been referred to their legal unit.
During its verification process, SDO Iloilo identified areas of “administrative interests,” including the issuance of a temporary report card by the teacher with the student’s initial grades of 64 and 69 in Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan for the first and second quarters, respectively.
Servillon also revealed that the victim’s family and the teacher are set to meet in a meeting convened by SDO Iloilo today, June 18.
Following the incident, Servillon said the teacher involved was placed on a work-from-home setup for conducting classes from May 16 to 31, right before the school year ended.
SDO Iloilo is considering reassigning the teacher to other schools or districts in the upcoming school year to further ease the tension related to the incident.
“We are looking at how we will approach the teacher, one of which is maybe the reassignment of the teacher. This is to diffuse tension in the school, especially since the deceased student’s siblings attend the same school,” Servillon said.
The SDO Iloilo further appealed to parents to assist teachers in monitoring their children and to directly report problems related to academic performance to the office of the superintendent for immediate action.
“We assure that the SDO Iloilo is committed to ensuring a nurturing classroom environment for our learners,” he added, emphasizing that the incident in Maasin is “an isolated case.”