THE DEPARTMENT of Education highlighted the different initiatives it is doing to promote and implement rights-based education.

In her year-end report during the DepEd General Assembly, Atty. Josephine Maribojoc, undersecretary for Legal Affairs, said that the advocacy of the agency is to develop happy, well-rounded and smart children who enjoy their rights in school, learning centers, and other learning environments through the RBE.

RBE promotes the right to access education, right to quality education, and the right to respect in the learning environment.

“Much has been done but there is still so much work to do. Sa ngalan po ng mga batang pinaglilingkuran ng Legal Affairs Strand, maraming salamat sa inyong pakikipagtulungan upang maitaguyod ang mga karapatan ng bata at kabataan sa edukasyon,” Maribojoc said.

At the start of 2021, the Office of the Undersecretary for Legal Affairs spearheaded the creation of the Child Protection Unit and Child Rights in Education Desk through DepEd Order No. 003 s. 2021.

CREDe, along with the Child Protection Unit, is tasked to uphold the rights of children to accessible and quality basic education and to protect them from all forms of abuse, violence, neglect and other acts that hinder them from exercising their constitutional and international rights.

DepEd introduced CREDe and CPU, which tasks all education stakeholders as duty-bearers to uphold the rights of every child, especially in the context of basic education.

“We in DepEd take this opportunity to articulate and reiterate that the Department embraces rights-based education and the creation of CREDe, and the CPU is a step forward in articulating and strengthening rights-based education,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said.