Policy on Paper, Protection in Practice: Stakeholder Assessments of Child Protection Policy Implementation in Manila Public Senior High Schools

The Philippine Department of Education’s Child Protection Policy (DepEd Order No. 40, s. 2012) assigns specific responsibilities to division offices, schools, school personnel, learners, and school-based Child Protection Committees (CPCs); however, limited evidence exists regarding the consistency of its implementation in large urban school divisions. This study examined the extent of policy implementation in the Schools Division of Manila and determined whether assessments differed across stakeholder groups. A descriptive-comparative survey was conducted in January 2024 among 390 respondents from five public senior high schools and the division office, comprising 5 division personnel, 18 school personnel, and 367 senior high school learners selected through proportional stratified random sampling. A 58-item researcher-developed instrument using a four-point scale assessed five implementation domains, while one-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests examined group differences. Respondent-weighted means placed all five domains within the highest implementation band (3.56–3.80); however, these aggregate ratings were largely influenced by learners, who constituted 94% of the sample. School personnel rated four of the five domains lower than the other stakeholder groups. Significant differences emerged in four domains, with the largest effect observed in the establishment and functioning of CPCs (F(2, 387) = 65.93, p < .001, η² = .25). School personnel gave the lowest ratings to referral systems, identification of at-risk learners, and coordination with police and social welfare desks (2.72–2.89). The findings indicate that aggregate ratings may obscure implementation weaknesses at the operational level, emphasizing the need for stakeholder-disaggregated monitoring and targeted capacity-building in CPC referral and case-management functions.