Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Nosca Hinoba-an opens this year, targets 700 students
HINOBAAN town Mayor Ma. Teresa Bilbao said the Negros Occidental State College of Agriculture (Nosca) will open an extension campus in Hinoba-an this school year, initially accommodating 700 freshmen college entrants in a newly constructed building at the heart of the municipality.
Bilbao told Sun.Star Bacolod that last May 5 was the first day of Nosca-Hinoba-an entrance examination.
The Nosca-Hinoba-an extension is a tertiary education flagship project of Bilbao in the municipality, taking into consideration the distance of the municipality to the nearest college located in other cities of the province.
Hinoba-an is 198 kilometers drive from Bacolod City or around four hours by private vehicle and a six-hour drive by public buses.
It is located at the southernmost tip of Negros Occidental and its distance poses certain economic setback for the municipality.
From the town's profile provided by the Provincial Information Office, Hinoba-an is composed of 13 barangays with only one district, is under the leadership of the district supervisor and being supervised by the Schools Division Superintendent Department of Education (DepEd).
This district has six primary schools and 16 elementary schools, two national high schools with three extension schools and two private schools.
"No college in Hinoba-an yet. This school year, however, four courses will be opened: Bachelor of Education both primary and secondary majors, Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and Bachelor of Science in Animal Science," Bilbao said.
She said in terms of livelihood and industry, the egg-laying livelihood project, which was initially started in Hinob-an's biggest barangay -- Asia -- was proven effective.
The total production of Asia families involved in the livelihood project cannot cope with the demand of the barangay alone, Bilbao said. "The readiness of the project, however, will now be replicated in two other big barangays of Hinoba-an, in Bacuyangan and Culipapa."
Last December 8, Sun.Star Bacolod witnessed how the egg-laying project was started in Barangay Asia.
But as earlier reported, eggs coming from the neighboring areas are usually damaged upon arrival to Hinoba-an owing to the town's distance.
Upon Bilbao's assumption, however, she facilitated an augmentation program for the egg-laying livelihood among the barangays of Hinoba-an.
"Presently, three barangays are involved in the livelihood project, among others. Eventually, we will target all 12 barangays of Hinoba-an," Bilbao stressed. (Gil Alfredo Severino)
