Context of Sexual Harassment among Junior and Senior High School Students

Abstract

Sexual harassment is an issue that happens ubiquitously in schools committed verbally or physically with anyone as victim regardless of gender. With the occurrence of such crime, this study assessed the students’ perception on sexual harassment, physical, verbal or mixed, the legal methodologies and policy employed by the concerned schools in implementing the different programs and instructions, and the characterization of the nature of work and the working conditions of different participating institutions. This study utilized descriptive-quantitative research design using a purposive sampling technique. Data were analyzed using frequency and percentage, and average weighted mean. Results disclosed that students unanimously agree on sexual harassment in various forms but apparently not aware verbal and non-verbal acts. The results further showed that students rarely get educational information about sexual harassment from their parents and institutions but noted the importance of faculty, administration, and student cooperation to prevent it. Hence, there are students who experienced incidents of sexual harassment in school premises but majority of them did not report it due to fear and culture of victim blaming. Similarly, the majority of the respondents confirm there are no programs, regulations, and instrumentalities to prevent sexual harassment in their school. With the alarming results, the study developed a training module to be implemented as an extension project to capacitate students and help institutions draft a mechanism in handling such cases.