Plaint vs school gets council nod

A COMPLAINT filed against a private-owned primary school that operates without valid permit passes first reading in the City Council.

A group of parents of students enrolled at the Good Shepherd Learning School in Daliao, Toril, this city, filed the complaint before the office of Councilor Leah Librado-Yap who chairs the committee on education.

The group expressed concern over the status of their children enrolled at the same school.

"I can only imagine the effects to both children and their parents should a child who is presently in Grade 4 be made to return to Grade 1 upon transferring to a public school. The economic, emotional and psychological implications abound, in which the schooling of a child may be disrupted or gravely affected," Librado-Yap stated in a letter, dated August 24, to Lawyer Renato Bartolo Jr., legal officer of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Davao Region.

Pastor Bert L. Digaum, director of Good Shepherd School, in a letter of reply to Librado-Yap, said the school has been making some arrangements with other private schools with valid permits to accept students from their school.

At present, the school has stopped its operation until their permit will be issued.

In August, DepEd in Davao Region announced that there are four schools in Davao City that operate without permits. Good Shepherd is one of the four.

DepEd-Davao Region refused to name the three others, but added one of these schools is located in District 1, another in District 3 while the other is in District 2.

DepEd-Davao Region is presently monitoring other schools that have been reported to be operating without a permit.