A mother said enrollment and financial difficulties caused her child to take his own life in Albay – opposing the claims of DepEd that such suicide incidents were not related to the implementation of distance learning.
Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (Spark) released the interview with the mother of the the19-year-old Grade 9 student who committed suicide on June 16.
“Hindi pa talaga (ako) nakakapag-move on,” she said, as translated by Spark in a video footage sent to reporters on Monday. “Sabi ko nga ang pinaka-dahilan no’n, nung huli na nagka-usap kami, kasi hinihikayat ko nga po siya na mag pa-enroll.”
“Tapos sabi ko pwede ka na magpa-enroll ngayon, pwede ka na magpa-enroll online kasi dahil nga sa pandemic. Ang sagot niya sa akin, ‘Hindi na muna ako, Mama, mag-aaral ngayon kasi ano naman matutunan ko sa online class na ‘yan?’,” she added.
The mother added that her son told her that attending an online class is actually more expensive than face-to-face since he needs P100 every day to attend the classes online.
“[Sabi niya] na noong dati nga nagpo-provide ka sa amin ng pamasahe, nakakatipid pa kesa sa online class. Ngayon daw kung wala kang 100 pesos, hindi ka makakapag-online class kasi minsan paano kung wala kang internet, wala kang pangload, paano ka makakapag-online class?” she relayed.
Student’s suicide in Albay due to enrollment, financial problems
“Ganun ‘yong desisyon niya talaga magta-trabaho muna. Tapos sabi ko naman magpatuloy ka mag-aral kasi nasa likod mo lang ako […] Pagkalipas nung araw na nag-usap kami na pinu-push ko na siya mag-enroll, tapos ‘pag dating ng 16, dun na namin natuklasan na ganun na,” she added.
Spark spokesperson John Lazaro said they would continue to bother DepEd until the department proves that suicide incidents were not related to distance learning.
DepEd earlies asked the public to stop linking suicide cases to the remote learning implementation, including the use of learning modules.
“Binabalaan din namin ang publiko sa mga grupo o indibidwal na ginagamit ang mga nasabing insidente upang siraan at isantabi ang mga pagsisikap ng Kagawaran,” it said.
DepEd said that none of the suicide incidents were connected to distance learning based on authorities’ reports and concerned families.