|
FORESIGHT and civic support may yet save the day for the
Department of Education (DepEd), which sees minimal
wrinkles in Tuesday’s opening of classes nationwide.
The
preparations made by the department during the summer
break, such as the training of teachers and the
implementation of the weeklong Brigada Eskwela, or the
National Schools Maintenance Week that generated
community support valued at P2. 3 billion, have kept
expected first-day problems to a minimum, Education
Secretary Jesli Lapus said Monday.
“With
the full support of schools and communities in Brigada
Eskwela, I am confident that today’s opening of classes
will proceed smoothly,” Lapus said.
Under
the Brigada Eskwela, the education department tapped
community-level and civil-society groups, along with
soldiers and policemen and professional volunteers and
youth organizations like the Scouts, to repair and clean
up public schools and provide for any last-minute needs
so opening-day problems are reduced.
Along
with other high-ranking officials of the DepEd,
including National Capital Region Director Teresita
Domalanta, Lapus will lead opening activities at the
Batasan National High School in Quezon City at 6 a.m.
Tuesday followed by a similar ritual at 8:30 a.m. at the
Highway Hills Integrated School in Mandaluyong City.
They
will check on the readiness of schools for the expected
deluge of students, as enrollment in public schools has
steadily risen the past few years owing to more
private-school students transferring to escape higher
tuition.
To
underscore the impact of the preparations made, the
DepEd’s Balik Eskwela and Information Center reported
only a total of 80 complaints as of
12 noon Monday, or less than a third the volume of complaints
received last year.
Most of
the complaints involved the collection of fees.
Kenneth
Tirado, DepEd communication officer, said Quezon City
topped the division with the most complaints—15 so far,
including three complaints involving the collection of
fees from the
Doña Juana Elementary School.
“Most of
the complaints we’re receiving revolve around fees being
collected, but we’ve resolved all of them,” Tirado said.
The
information center, which operates from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
daily, also tallied three complaints from the Bacoor
schools division in Cavite.
The
public may call in questions or complaints through
hotline 636-1663, fax number 638-8641 or by text through
DepEd’s Text Messaging Service with number 0919-456-0027
or by texting DEPED FDBK <NAME> <MESSAGE> and sending
it to 2622 for both Globe and Smart; or through e-mail
at action@deped.gov.ph.
Lapus
had earlier warned public school administrators to
comply with his “no collection of fees” directive to
ensure maximum enrollment and attendance this school
year.
Another
memorandum does away with the wearing of uniforms for
new entrants. Instead, IDs will take their place to
ensure that only legitimate students are allowed entry
into schools.
The
collection of fees for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of
the Philippines, the anti-TB fund, campus paper, Red
Cross and the Parents-Teachers-Community Organization
will only start next month and the teachers will have
nothing to do with the collection.
About 21
million students are expected to troop to schools today,
up from last year’s 20.5 million.
Of the
total, 6.66 million are secondary students, with 5.33
million in public schools or about 80 percent of the
total; and 1. 33 million in the private sector. The
elementary level accounts for 13.93 million
students—with 12.84 million in public schools or 92
percent, and 1.09 million in the private sector.
There
are more than 40, 000 public elementary and secondary
schools nationwide.
The
country’s largest public elementary school in terms of
population is the Commonwealth Elementary School in
Quezon City with 13,000 pupils; the largest secondary
school is the Rizal High School in Pasig with about
20,000 students.
Some
1.06 million will troop to preschools—with about 640,000
in government-run day care centers or about 60 percent
of the total, and 420,000 in the private sector.
In the
higher education sector, some 875,000 students are
expected to troop to 112 state colleges and universities
and 64 local colleges nationwide.
The
opening date for classes in the private sector has been
left to the discretion of the schools’ management, but
most private schools are also opening on June 10.
Lapus
assured the public that the department is on top of the
situation, adding that there are enough classrooms,
textbooks, chairs and teachers for this school year.
Besides
the current inventory of 86.20 million textbooks, the
department has also procured since April this year 32.48
million new textbooks to ensure that there will be
enough textbooks for every student.
“We want
to assure the public that we have enough textbooks that
are properly evaluated and available for every student.
The ratio now stands at one textbook for every student,
especially in the five core subject areas of English,
Mathematics, Science, Filipino and Social Studies,”
Lapus said.
Director
Socorro Pilor of the DepEd-Instructional Materials
Council Secretariat said a total of 1,988,640 Hekasi 6
textbooks worth P64,731,982 were acquired through the
World Bank-funded National Program Support for Basic
Education (NPSBE); while 3,321,079 Araling Panlipunan I
and II textbooks worth P227,716,384 were purchased under
the NPSBE and the Asian Development Bank-funded
Secondary Education Development and Improvement Project
(Sedip).
Pilor
said 21,285,425 English textbooks for Grades 1 to 6
amounting to P666,677,231 and 5,886,996 English
textbooks for first year to fourth year high schools
were likewise purchased for P252,254,592.
These
textbooks Pilor said, were delivered to 2, 349 school
districts or to 37, 642 recipient elementary schools and
6, 439 secondary schools nationwide.
As for
classrooms, Lapus said DepEd has a current inventory of
421,034 nationwide while 10, 472 were expected to be
completed before the year end.
“At
present, for every one classroom, there are about 45
students, “Lapus said.
The
number of chairs, he said are also sufficient to cope
with the influx.
“Current
inventory stood at 15.23 million while 2.19 million were
newly-built and only recently delivered, he added.
As for
teachers, he said that DepEd has hired 10,868 new
teachers for this school year, bringing the total to
480,483, for a 1:36 teacher-student ratio.
In Metro
Manila, Domalanta said 1, 522 school buildings were
recently turned over to them in time for today’s opening
of classes.
The new
classrooms would somewhat ease the shortage of 2,964
classrooms, which could accommodate up to 300,000
students.
Meanwhile, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA)
chairman Bayani Fernando has ordered the agency’s
Sidewalk Clearing Operations Group headed by Director
Roberto Esquivel to clear sidewalks of all traffic
obstruction for the safety of the two million students
going back to school on Tuesday.
“We want
to clear the sidewalks to provide safety for our
students who will be going to their schools next week,”
Fernando said, noting the possible danger to students
who are forced to use the roadways in walking instead of
sidewalks cluttered by obstruction.
“I am
also appealing to vendors not to use the sidewalks in
peddling their goods and to motorists not to park their
vehicles so as not to block pedestrians,” the MMDA chief
said.
For his
part, Executive Director Angelito Vergel De Dios of the
MMDA Traffic Operations Center said they will deploy
more than a dozen tow trucks near schools and other
areas in the metropolis to immediately remove illegally
parked vehicles.
De Dios
said the agency traffic enforcers have strict orders to
implement the “Pink Line” policy and to tow any
vehicles, public or private, parked outside the pink
line.
The
official issued the reminder, saying poor traffic
condition along roads near schools are caused by
illegally-parked school services and private vehicles
dropping off and picking up students.
The
project was introduced by the agency last February to
prevent illegal parking among drivers by clearly
separating the sidewalks from the roadways.
Under
the scheme, three-inch wide pink lines, which run
parallel on a total of 10,000 kilometers of roadways in
the metropolis, marks the separation between sidewalks
and thoroughfares with initial focus being on major
thoroughfares.
The
project was initially implemented along Edsa and other
major thoroughfares in the metropolis.
Besides
having their vehicle towed, violators would also be
meted a fine of P500 and must pay the impounding fee of
from P800 to P1,000.
On the
other hand, MMDA General Manager Robert Nacianceno said
traffic enforcers have instructions to immediately tow
all vehicles found parked outside the pink line will be
towed immediately.
“For the
past months since we implemented the pink line motorists
have learned to follow the pink line policy and there
will be no exemption to the rule even during the opening
of classes,” Nacianceno explained.
About 3,
000 MMDA personnel will be deployed on major
thoroughfares and near schools in the metropolis to
ensure a traffic-free opening of classes. |
