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Thursday, May 18, 2006
Parents, community’s help tapped: Prepare schools for June opening
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
The Department of Education (DepEd) launched in Cebu yesterday the Brigada Eskwela program to encourage communities to help repair and prepare public schools for the opening of classes.
DepEd Undersecretary Ramon Bacani, who attended the launch at the Consolacion National High School, said 70 to 75 percent of over 40,000 public elementary and secondary schools nationwide are already implementing the program, which is now on its fourth year.
With the help of local government units (LGUs), the private sector, religious groups and Parents-Teachers Community Associations (PTCAs), they hope to implement the program in almost all the schools in the country, Bacani said.
Based on pledges to the DepEd, more than 30,000 schools nationwide will implement this year the Brigada Eskwela. The program involves the community in installing or repairing school fixtures and other tasks like the landscaping of campuses.
“The achievements of the program exceeded our expectations. From about 10 percent of public schools in the country, it later grew to 13,000 in 2003. In 2004, it almost reached 20,000 and then in 2005, there were already more than 26,000 participating schools,” Bacani told reporters.
Halfway
In Central Visayas, more than 50 percent of about 170 schools have already implemented Brigada Eskwela, DepEd 7 Director Carolino Mordeno said.
However, he chose to hold the launching in Consolacion this year due to the support of Mayor Avelino Gungob Sr. and the community. He said the town is also the pilot area for two projects aimed at improving the quality of education for students.
Gungob, for his part, said he wants to prioritize education to ensure the employment of his constituents.
One of the projects the LGU is supporting is a Canada-based teaching module for science and math. The Municipal Government is spending P6 million for the project, which it will pay on installment basis for five years.
The LGU will also acquire a property to allow the construction of an elementary and a secondary school in Barangay Tayud.
The Aboitiz Group of Companies, with the help of the National Government, is financing the construction of 15 to 20 classrooms in the barangay, he added.
Not just physical
The school’s PTCA president, Arnolfo Aurelio Abinales, said in his speech that the launch of Brigada Eskwela in Consolacion gives them an “atmosphere of success.”
“It helps keep our hopes up,” he added.
Abinales said that aside from providing manpower for the Brigada Eskwela, the PTCA also bought some ceiling fans for classrooms that did not have any.
Bacani hopes the assistance of the community will go beyond physical facilities.
“Education is everybody’s business,” he stressed.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 18, 2006 issue)
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