Monday, October 30, 2006 Abuno high’s clean, well-lighted rooms By Leticia Suarez-Orendain
ONE class in a barangay high school had 96 students jam-packed like Vienna sausages in a room about 20x20 in size. The eye could err, but the student figure is certain and staggering.
According to Abuno High School OIC principal Cecilia O. Arcenal, during exams some of the students have to sit outside the classroom to prevent the temptation to cheat.
The school, which is in Barangay Abuno, Lapu-Lapu City, needed additional classrooms for its growing high school student population--from a few dozen in 1996 when it opened its high school program to 465 this year.
Arcenal said that they relayed this need to Lapu-Lapu City Counselor Cecilia F. Malingin, the city education committee chairperson.
When Commonwealth Estates Inc., which has community projects that they channel through local governments, decided to donate a two-room building for a school, Malingin suggested Abuno High.
Engr. Rey Sanchez, Commonwealth business development manager, said that they give donations in places where they have business interests and do so upon the request of the community.
The building, which cost P800,000, has two well-ventilated and well-lighted rooms. Abuno High has other needs. It has no real library. Arcenal said that they just have a reading center housed in one of the classrooms in the Elementary Department. The room is hot and is not conducive to reading or research.
The reading center also needs books and other fixtures that a library needs.
Drainage is another problem, the school being in a low-lying area. Although the Parent Teacher Association is working on a solution, they need all the help they can get.
The school’s elementary program started in the 1960s and has 864 students today.
