THE Department of Education (DepEd) will start to spruce up schools as this year’s National Schools Maintenance Week, or the “Brigada Eskwela,” kicks off on Monday as 20 million students are expected to troop back to schools on June 6.
“All DepEd employees are encouraged to join the Brigada Eskwela activities by offering their skills or providing their support in kind to public schools near their residences. Interested employees are given two days to do volunteer work on official time, provided that such work is approved by their head or office,” Education Secretary Armin Luistro said as he encouraged DepEd employees to participate in the annual clean-up and repair activity, adding that the time they spend on Brigada Eskwela will be credited to their official time.
Monday’s activity will start with a caravan from the DepEd Central Office in Pasig City to the Bago Bantay Elementary School in Quezon City where Luistro will be joined by DepEd Undersecretaries Yolanda Quijano and Alberto Muyot and Assistant Secretaries Jesus Lorenzo Mateo and Armando Ruiz, as well as DepEd-National Capital Region director Elena Ruiz and Brigada Eskwela project manager Merle Asprer. Similar activities will also be held in the regions and provinces spearheaded by their respective DepEd regional directors, superintendents and principals.
Brigada Eskwela is an annual school cleanup and repair activity spearheaded by the DepEd in cooperation with nongovernment organizations, parents, students, teachers, the business community and civic organizations.
Instead of cash donations, participants to the cleanup drive donate construction and cleaning materials or serve as volunteers to prepare the schools two weeks before the opening of classes.
The DepEd is expecting more than 20 million students to troop to the 38,351 public elementary schools and 7,274 public secondary schools nationwide.
Luistro said last year Brigada was able to generate an equivalent amount of more than P1.7 billion from donations in kind and volunteer hours spent in school repairs.
When the activity was first launched in 2003, participation rate was only at a dismal 31 percent, but the DepEd said that since it was made an institutional event in 2008, participation rate of schools stood at 100 percent.
Two international donor agencies—the Australian Agency for International Development and the United States Agency for International Development—have already confirmed to the DepEd their participation in this year’s Brigada Eskwela by adopting public schools for repair and refurbishing, particularly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Aside from the Brigada Eskwela, Luistro also ordered the implementation of the Oplan Balik Eskwela (OBE) from May 31 to June 10 to ensure the smooth opening of classes.
The DepEd will also set up Information and Action Centers at the DepEd Central Office in Pasig City and at the department’s regional and division offices to be manned 24 hours for the duration of the OBE project to receive the public’s complaint and feedback on the preparation and opening of classes.
Hotlines to receive calls, text and fax messages and e-mails on complaints and concern of the parents and students as well as a help desk would be set up during that period.
