POSITION PAPER

The newly DepEd order no. 49 was recently implemented on November 2, 2022 by the
Department of Education and has become controversial as people think that the meaning of it
does not fully match its goal. The order states that DepEd personnel should avoid relationships,
interaction, and communication, including following learners outside the school vicinity’s social
media, not unless they are their relatives. There is no particular trigger as to why the department
imposed this new policy. Depoliticizing the Padrino System inside the department and promoting
professionalism among its employees are the main reasons this new order was created. And also,
since there shall always be a drawn line between the educators and their learners. It is possible as
well that the institution’s new rule was made just to secure more the protection of their image as
the rule can be used to greatly discipline the civil servants and gain more control over who they
should have a relationship with thus, lowering the chances of them to cause any trouble for the
department. The order is just a mere reminder for the educators that they are public servants and
they must treat their acquaintances and the students with the highest degree of professionalism.
Hence, I’ll be able to say that prohibiting teachers and students from creating relationships
outside their school is highly questionable and not very reasonable at all.
First, this new order can take away several rights away from the teachers like freedom of
speech and the like as the rule does restrain them which can then result in a huge complication
inside the department. In accordance with Rep. France Castro (ACT Teachers party-list), he
made a statement asking, “Why does the Department of Education feel the need to create such an
order that gags and threatens teachers and education support personnel which treats them as mere
creatures only of the school and dehumanizes them preventing them to exercise their right to free
speech, expression, to organize and be able to voice out their grievances?" Thus, the educators
will now feel even more restrained by this order limiting their rights. Without communication
outside, it will be harder for them to express their complaints about their job. They sometimes
rant to their student friends as they feel more lightly and at ease when talking about it with them.
They cannot communicate with others even with their friends outside the school. Of course,
some teachers have made several if not many friends out of their past students and the teachers
are forced to cut their ties and let those students go just because of a rule they have to follow.
Teachers can be both professional and friendly at the same time. Why slap them with the order
and walk away with it pretending to be proud knowing that it might affect the educator’s mental
health and well-being? They should make considerations and create a rule that will benefit the
teachers rather than making rules like these. Because of too much workload, teachers are getting
stressed and the DepEd managed to make it worse. They are just like people unable to speak,
wanting to escape the world of anxiety.
Second, preventing teachers from interacting with people outside the school does not
necessarily improve and maintain their professionalism towards people. You cannot be a teacher
if you do not treat everything professionally when you are wearing your designated school
uniform. As I said earlier, they can be professional and friendly at the same time. Even if they
can only talk to the personnel and students of the same school they work for, you cannot say that
they are not friendly with them. As a matter of fact, they might be talking and communicating to
their current students more unprofessionally than the students not in the school with them. They
are just making relationships with people, what wrong can happen? There is no direct correlation
between them and the possibility that DepEd only imposed that policy to avoid getting their
image stained is getting higher. In fact, it makes teachers more open to ideas from students of
other schools. By talking to other people, they get their daily dose of social interaction and since
most teachers are usually extroverts, they need more of it. Not to mention, they feel happy as
well by talking to their friends and old students by sharing new stories and gossip to them and
remembering old memories. Anyways, you cannot prohibit teachers from socializing. It really is
situational but why risk the teachers’ freedom in exchange for a rule that no one even thought
about before and no one asked for? In more simple words, interacting with people that work or
study in other places cannot really affect their attitude and personality but can affect their mental
health in a negative way.
Lastly, focusing on the main topic or issue shown to the class and not on the order itself,
students should be given the freedom to have friendly and platonic relationships outside the
vicinity of the school with their teachers because maintaining those relationships does and can
benefit both the learners and teachers in different ways. As a student myself, my life does not
completely revolve around academics and school. I have a life outside of it and I try to put more
effort in maintaining that life. I am trying to give more emphasis into my mental health as school
mainly makes me sad and stressed. By that, I find more peace when I am away from my school.
Of course, I also have teacher friends who work in a different school I go to so cutting my
relationship with them is not necessary at all as they are like parents to me. If I have questions
and problems about school and my academics, they are where I always go to. I trust them and
they give me the best advice. We share experiences and we also share a laugh which pretty much
removes my worry with my grades as they assure me that I can do it because they are seeing how
hard I work and study. They can also make a good role model. There is nothing wrong
befriending teachers and treating them like family. We should not let anyone ruin a relationship,
which is very important and necessary for our well-being as we might regret it later when we go
again in the world of turmoil where people you trust serve a great value.
Frankly, the newly implemented rule really is very disagreeable and should be critiqued
even more. The policy should be replaced by a much better and well-thought out one because if
not, the teachers are not the only ones who will be affected by it but also us, the students.
Interaction between people is important as the need for interaction is inherent to the life given to
us. The rule serves as a limiting factor regarding the freedom and rights of the students and
teachers. While it is true that we cannot do something about it but express our opinions, it does
not hurt us if we just try a little bit to protect and defend our freedom by doing anything we can.
Some might care and some might do not but nonetheless, let us fight for our freedom together
and live the best school life because this is our right.