A YOUTH group challenged the Department of Education to prove its claims that the suicides of teachers and students “should not be linked” with distance or modular learning.

On October 20, the education department released a statement asking the public to “stop directly connecting such [suicides] to modules or distance learning.”

The Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan however asked DepEd to review its claims as they go against the testimonies of those directly affected by the suicides.

In particular, SPARK cited the testimony of Maria Jacobe Benig, the mother of Ricky Benig, a 19-year-old Grade 9 student at Sto. Domingo National High School in Albay, who took his own life last June 16.

In an interview posted on the group’s Facebook page, Mrs. Benig said Ricky had been struggling with the financial burden imposed by online learning on his family.

“Ang sagot niya sa akin, ‘Hindi muna ako mama mag-aaral ngayon, kasi ano naman matutunan ko sa online class na ‘yan? 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,’” Mrs. Benig said.

She added that she considers online class as the main reason why Ricky took his own life.

“Kasi problema niya nga ‘yung online class. ‘Yun lang talaga ‘yung nakikita kong dahilan kung bakit ganon,” she said.

SPARK dared DepEd officials to disprove the claims of Mrs. Benig and provide evidence that the cases of student suicides were not linked to distance learning.

“If DepEd claims that they have police reports, parents’ accounts, and internal investigations that led them to conclude this, then we demand that they make this accessible to the public for us to scrutinize,” John Lazaro, the group’s national spokesperson, said.

As of October 25, the group has monitored 20 cases of deaths directly connected to distance learning. Of this number, 19 were students, ranging from Grade 6 to third year college. Seventeen of them took their own life, one death was due to electrocution and another due to vehicular accident.

“If DepEd’s claims are found to be correct, then we will stop insisting that distance learning is killing students. But if they are not, they will be proven to be a group of murderers who tried to wash the blood off their hands, and resigning from their posts is the least they can do,” Lazaro said.