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Thursday, December 23, 2004
Plan to cancel kids’ Sinulog worries chairman
No public school in Cebu City will be able to join the Sinulog 2005 after Mayor Tomas Osmeña bared plans to cancel the Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Dakbayan beginning next year.
Osmeña changed his mind yesterday about allowing schools that performed well in the National Achievement Test (NAT) and those that will be sponsored by private companies to join the Sinulog.
“I’m always open to somebody telling me what I don’t know, but the way I look at it right now, I don’t see any possibility of allowing schools that performed well to join,” he told a news conference yesterday.
The mayor will see to it that public school principals and teachers will be fired if they raise funds for students’ participation in extra-curricular activities and ask their students to practice during class hours.
After learning about the city schools’ poor performance in the NAT, the mayor ordered a reduction in extra-curricular activities, including the Sinulog and the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association.
Osmeña described as “dangerous and unacceptable” the results that only two percent of the city’s student population passed the NAT, an indication “that the students’ future is compromised.”
“So if the Sinulog will be done by schools, no one can join so I’m thinking of practically canceling it (Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Dakbayan),” he said.
Various public elementary and secondary schools join the Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Dakbayan every Sinulog. Next year, it is supposed to be held on Jan. 8 while the Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Lalawigan will be held on Jan. 9.
Winners in both competitions will compete in the Sinulog grand parade on Jan. 16.
Consequences
In a separate interview yesterday, Vice Mayor Michael Rama said he is worried the mayor’s plan will affect the grand parade since fewer contingents will be participating.
Rama, overall chairman of the Sinulog Foundation Inc., said he will talk with Osmeña to discuss the consequences of canceling the Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Dakbayan.
If the mayor really wants to cut down on the students’ participation in the Sinulog, Rama said he will request Osmeña to just implement it in 2006, since the Sinulog 2005 is just a few weeks away.
“If it’s cancelled, it will greatly reduce the number of contingents. Also, if we talk about Sinulog, we are talking about the Infant Jesus and so many children are looking forward to joining the event. There will be consequences to this,” he said.
Rama added that the contingents for the grand parade will be reduced by five to 10 if the Sinulog sa Kabataan sa Dakbayan will not push through.
He said, though, that sponsorships will not be affected by the mayor’s plan.
No choice
But City Schools Superintendent Leonilo Oliva said he regrets the mayor’s decision since some students have already prepared their costumes and have mastered their dance steps.
“Whatever the mayor decides to do, we will just accept it but we also hope he will consider because most of the schools have already prepared for it,” he told Sun.Star.
But the mayor believes that if changes need to be implemented, these should start now.
While he sympathizes with Rama and the Sinulog organizers, Osmeña said he has to act immediately on the problems in public schools.
“I pity them, of course, but I have to show the seriousness of the matter. My message to the principals and teachers—and I better get it straight to their heads—is that winning is not important. Good performance of students is 50 times more important,” said Osmeña.
He will also tap some nongovernment organizations and the Local Development Council in identifying other reforms needed in the city’s public schools.
To motivate the principals and teachers that fared well in the NAT, Osmeña said he will promote them, “but for those not willing to change, we will have to demand for their removal.” (LCR)
(December 23, 2004 issue)
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