Friday, December 19, 2008 Lapuz graces teachers' Christmas celebration By Cong B. Corrales
SOME 6,000 teachers and educators gathered at the Capitol grounds in Cagayan de Oro City Thursday in celebration of Division Teachers' Day cum Christmas party.
The nation's colors -- blue, red, yellow and white -- sprawled all over the Capitol grounds as division teachers partied practically the whole day Thursday.
The teachers have much to celebrate this Christmas. Their P7,500 yearend bonus was released and on top of that, the province of Misamis Oriental added P1,500, bringing their cash gift to P9,000.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz graced the event and gamely posed at each table for photo opportunities with the teachers. Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno also attended the gathering.
In an interview with Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro, Sec. Lapuz said the Department of Education (DepEd) has no new programs for the incoming year. The department would instead focus its energies on the sustainability of the department's current programs.
"I think we are moving in the right direction. Our main concern right now is how to sustain our current programs. We have to go back to the basics, if we are to increase our participation rate in the schools," Lapuz said.
Currently, Lapuz said, 15 percent of school-aged children are out of school.
This is the reason why the department opted for a "no money transaction policy" during enrollments, aside from making uniforms optional.
"We will be left behind (by other Asian countries) if we could not abate the low participation rate in our country," Lapuz said.
"Kahit na yung uniform dapat optional na para ma-engganyo ang mga kabataang mag aral. Most children kasi hindi na pumapasok dahil walang uniform. Public education should be at no cost, if we are to be at par with other countries," Lapuz added.
Lapuz told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro his department's accreditation and evaluation program for out-of-school youths (OSYs) have gained grounds by employing famous icons to increase the number of the program's test-takers.
"Before only 30,000 took our accreditation and evaluation tests but now that we have Manny Pacquiao as program model -- he actually took the test and now has a (high school) diploma - the number rose to more than 120,000, all of whom have garnered their respective high school diplomas.
