Only human: No penalties vs scolding teacher

No penalty will be meted on the teacher who went viral on social media for scolding her students while she was live on short video platform TikTok, Vice President and concurrent Education Secretary Sara Duterte said yesterday.

- ELIZABETH MARCELO

In an interview with reporters on the side in Cambodia, Duterte said she had watched the video and read the explanation of the teacher about the outburst.

Duterte said that while emotions got the better of the teacher, she did not see any mean intention on the teacher's part.

"My first reaction was that the teacher is only human. We all reach a boiling point, especially when we are frustrated. This is especially true for our teachers as they are dealing not only with a single person. One class is composed of about 25 to 45 students, sometimes 55 students," Duterte said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Duterte said she just instructed the Department of Education (DepEd) regional director in the National Capital Region (NCR) to remind the teacher to slow down and temper her emotions whenever she is angry or frustrated.