Ahead of the school opening in October, Save the Children Philippines is calling on teachers to conduct outreach calls to support students’ wellbeing and prepare them for learning at home.
Outreach calls are part of the mental health and psychosocial support being provided by teachers to learners who face anxiety, fear, and uncertainties, especially in this time of pandemic, in order to encourage them as well to be motivated to continue learning even from home.
Atty. Alberto Muyot, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children Philippines said teachers, along with parents and communities, are critical to the fulfillment of children’s rights to access inclusive and adaptive education in the time of COVID-19.
“Besides health and survival risks, children face the devastating and long-term impacts of the pandemic because it limited their mobility and prevented many of them from personally interacting with friends and schoolmates as they miss out on their classes,” said Muyot.
For Jerly Villanada, Child Protection Manager of Save the Children Philippines, outreach calls are beneficial in many ways. It gives teachers the chance to check-in with their students without being intrusive. Outreach calls also provide an opportunity for children and families to be able to speak with a trusted adult professional to discuss important family matters.
Also, outreach calls allow teachers to develop empathy by listening to children. They can also focus on the child’s health and well-being instead of homework, and offer help on access to essential protection or health services.
“It would not take more than 15 minutes for teachers to converse with their students as children may find it hard to concentrate on the phone for longer periods of time. But those 15-minute outreach calls are very important and may actually save lives,” said Villanada.
As part of the humanitarian response, the child rights organization also trains teachers, social workers, and community health officers to provide psychosocial first aid to children during natural disasters and other emergencies.
Save the Children Philippines is also working with the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Australian government in improving teacher professional development under the Sustaining Education Reforms Gain (SERG) project. The program focuses on increasing the quality of teaching to achieve better learning outcomes.
“We continue to partner with teachers to allow them to support the fulfillment of children’s rights to education, and to ensure that they are also equipped in the new normal for we know that it takes a village to raise a child,” said Muyot.
