23/08/2026
๐ข๐ฃ๐๐ก๐๐ข๐ก | New Trend Alert?
Apparently, violence has found its way into the school calendar.
Forget Intramurals. Forget Science Month. Forget Foundation Day.
The newest thing making its rounds in Philippine schools is something no student should ever have to experience: violence. And somehow, we are becoming accustomed to it.
On June 22, a deadly shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City left three students dead and about 20 others injured. What followed was not simply a period of mourning. The Department of Education (DepEd) reported an increase in school-related violence and threats after the incident, including stabbings, bomb threats and shooting threats. Authorities even raised concerns about a possible โcopycatโ phenomenon.
Then came August 18. Today. Another school shooting.
This time, at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University campus in Zamboanga City, and perhaps the detail that unsettles us the most is not simply that another student was killed.
It is that the alleged shooter was reportedly a Grade 9 Junior High School student.
Grade. Nine.
A child who should have been worrying about quizzes, projects, friendships and what to eat during recess is now at the center of another school violence case that has shaken an entire community.
Let that sink in.
At this point, a question must be asked: What is happening?
How many more times do we have to hear the words school shooting before we stop treating them as isolated tragedies?
How many more parents have to send their children through a school gate with a quiet prayer that they will come home safely?
How many more students have to sit in classrooms wondering whether the place they once considered safe can still protect them?
Schools are supposed to be safe spaces. Always.
Not most of the time. Not until something happens. Not only after another tragedy forces us to strengthen security.
Every child deserves to feel safe at school. Every teacher deserves to teach without fear. Every parent deserves to send their child to school without wondering whether they will return home. And every student deserves an education without having to add โWhat if something happens today?โ to the list of things they have to worry about.
Enough is enough.
There is growing frustration over the familiar cycle: another headline, another statement, another investigation, another promise to improve school security, and still, another incident happens, then the cycle just repeats.
DepEd has acknowledged the increase in school-related violence following the Tacloban shooting, while lawmakers have pushed for stronger school-safety measures involving emergency response, campus security, mental-health support and coordination among schools, government agencies, parents and communities. The department has also considered incorporating active-shooting preparedness into regular school drills.
True, those measures matter, but preparedness cannot be the end of the conversation.
They should also tell us how threats are reported and acted upon. How students in distress are supported. How families and schools communicate. How communities can identify warning signs without turning every student into a suspect, and how authorities can prevent dangerous situations before they reach the classroom.
Because the answer cannot simply be, โWe will be more prepared next time.โ There should not have to be a next time.
Some may argue that such outrage is too emotional. Maybe it is.
Remember, behind every frightened classroom is a group of children who did not ask to become part of this chaotic madness. When will enough finally be enough?
The fear is not limited to one person. Students are concerned. Parents are worried. Teachers are worried. Communities are asking questions, and if all of us keep waiting for someone else to ask them, then who will?
So yes, we should be angry, we should be boiling with rage, and we must refuse to stay silent.
We cannot afford to live in a country where school shootings become something we describe as a โtrend,โ neither do we want school safety to become another campaign slogan that resurfaces only after a tragedy.
And we certainly do not want the next generation to grow up believing that fear is simply part of going to school.
Violence is not a trend, fear is not normal, and schools are certainly not battlefields. These are where our future is being built.
If we truly believe that every child deserves an education, then we must also believe that every child deserves to survive every school day. Because school should be a place where children learn how to build their future, not a place where they learn to fear it.
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