Most Philippine high school students suffer from violence

MANILA—Seven out of 10 students in Grades IV to VI and high schools, and at least 4 out of 10 in Grades I to III have experienced violence in school, according to a study on violence against children in the country’s public schools.

Verbal abuse is the most prevalent form of violence at all school levels, which includes being shouted at, cursed at, ridiculed, teased or humiliated, according to the study.

Physical violence included pinching, throwing things at a child, spanking, making a child stand under the sun, locking a child in a room or enclosed space, and sexual assault.

The acts of violence increase in frequency as the child moves up to higher grade levels, according to the study.

The study, “Towards a Child-friendly Environment—Baseline Study on Violence Against Children,” was released Tuesday at a press briefing attended by students, parents, academics in Quezon City.

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Student writers enjoined to practice advocacy journalism

ILOILO CITY—The Philippine Information Agency in Western Visayas and SMART Communications have joined hands in encouraging student writers to practice community or advocacy journalism.

PIA 6 Director Atty. Janet Mesa said campus writers should use their publications as channels to help government communication work by publishing community-oriented and relevant papers.
She said that with the thrust of the administration on public-private partnerships, school publications also become indispensable partners in promoting change in governance.

SMART’s Manager for Online and e-publishing Nick Wilwayco said they have partnered with PIA to enhance the campus paper writers’ skills in online writing and blogging.
In this they write about community stories that depict issues and problems in a community, how people are able to overcome through partnerships also with other entities.

The PIA-SMART partnership highlights among others a Community Action Page through SMART's journ.ph platform where publications will upload stories on their accounts provided by SMART.

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Teen Filipina medical student a novelist at 12

MANILA—While other sixth graders kept themselves busy with homework, projects and other grade school activities, Mary Amie Gelina “Angeli” E. Dumatol kept writing and accomplished a feat every young writer dreams of achieving in adult life: Coming out with her own novel.

The 16-year-old freshman at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, known to her family and friends as Angeli, completed her first novel, The Elixir, when she was 12 years old.

Angeli said the inspiration for writing the book came about while she was role-playing with her cousins, and thought of converting their game into a story. This eventually paved the way for her first major work.

“The Elixir is a fantasy novel written during the time when Ragnarok, an online role-playing game, was hugely popular,” Angeli said. Adolescents and young adults were addicted to the game that drew a big following in 2004-2005.

Angeli described The Elixir as a gifted young man’s journey to end the reign of evil in his kingdom. She wrote it during her free time and on weekends for about a year before finally showing the completed manuscript to her parents.

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National campus journalism fellowship set by UST from October 21-23

MANILA—To promote press excellence and foster camaraderie among campus journalists all over the country, The Varsitarian, the 81-year-old official student publication of the University of Santo Tomas, will hold “Inkblots 2009: the 11th UST National Campus Journalism Fellowship” from October 21 to 23 at its Thomas Aquinas Research Complex in the UST campus in España. The event is open to all student writers, campus press advisers, high school journalism instructors, and school officials.

The fellowship will consist of seminars on news writing, sports writing, investigative reporting, features writing, culture and lifestyle writing, opinion or column writing, and parallel sessions on writing for broadcast, cartooning and lay-outing, among others.

Among the invited resource speakers are Cesar Apolinario (news reporter, GMA Network), Conrado de Quiros (columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer), Nestor Cuartero (entertainment editor, Tempo), and Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo (vice-president for public affairs, University of the Philippines-Diliman).

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UP students shine in Asia business concept

MANILA—A multi-discipline team of students from the University of the Philippines-Diliman won the second prize in the KT&G 2010 Asian Students’ Venture Forum competition for the best business concepts using new technology, held recently in Beijing, China.

Composed of Business Administration students Katrina Gay Cruz, Karen Gail Feble, and Michelle Ann Molas; Public Administration students Julia Chu and Ezekiel Vicente; Mass Communication student Julio Danilo Silvestre; and Interior Design student Crisette Evelyn Arcilla, the Philippine team won over teams from eight other universities in Singapore, Japan, Korea and China.

The UP team presented “Language Live,” a concept for online Mandarin language tutorials, during a program at Renmin University. First prize went to a team from Singapore and the third prize went to a Korean team.

The students’ participation in the forum made them part of the Asia Entrepreneurship Community (AEC), a network of university students of China, Korea, Singapore, Japan, and the Philippines who exchange business venture information in the field of new technology and are concerned with venture entrepreneurship.

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Arts and Letters students tapped to start speak-English campaign at UST

MANILA—Students at the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the University of Sto. Tomas are now required to speak in English during class discussions, serving as “guinea pigs” before the launch of a University-wide English proficiency campaign.

Rector Fr. Rolando De la Rosa, O.P., said that competence in English is one of the main complaints of many of the employers of UST graduates. He explained that a survey by employers in the country and abroad indicated that  although UST graduates “are very competent in their profession,” one of their setbacks ois that “they are not very articulate, especially in the English language.”

Artlets Dean Michael Anthony Vasco said the policy requires students and faculty members to use English as the medium of instruction and communication. However, the policy will not affect Filipino and foreign language subjects.

“Every liberal arts student is expected to be highly articulate. It’s about time that we create a strict language policy in the college. Our students should be able to articulate their discourse in the English language,” Vasco said.

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