Tuesday, March 25, 2008 Early listing for 1st graders
FOR the first time in Cebu City, enrolment for grade one started even before classes in public schools could end, with hopes of having more enrollees for school year 2008-2009.
The early enrolment for first graders started two weeks ago and will run until the first week of April.
Joy Augustus Young, the mayor’s consultant on education, said enrolment for first graders started early to give the City Schools Division time to segregate readers and non-readers among the enrollees.
Non-readers will be required to take summer classes three hours a day, five days a week, specifically on early child care and development.
Free
“The classes will be given for free and will cover good manners, proper hygiene and reading readiness so that when classes start in June, dili na makuhaan ang oras sa ilang main lessons,” Young told Sun.Star Cebu.
The City Schools Division is expecting 18,000 grade one enrollees for school year 2008-2009 but as of last week, only around 9,000 have enrolled.
Enrolment for other grade and year levels will start in May.
To avoid last-minute enrolment, Young instructed school principals and teachers to go out to the barangays and conduct a house-to-house enrolment to make sure all children are able to enroll for grade one.
Young said they decided to offer summer classes for non-readers otherwise teachers will have to hold classes at a pace that non-readers can cope with, delaying the lessons for the entire class.
He expects majority of the enrollees to take summer classes since most of them were not able to attend day care and preschool classes.
As for those who went through kindergarten, up to 99 percent passed the entrance exam and didn’t need to take summer classes, he said.
Young lamented that some children who went to day care centers are still non-readers and still have to take summer classes.
“This shows the quality of our day care center classes, which we also have to improve and we’re already taking steps to address that. The City Government has started to provide funding for the day care centers in the barangays,” he said.
Fewer
The City Schools Divisions expects fewer grade one enrollees needing summer classes in the future with the integration of kindergarten in elementary education.
Starting next school year, kindergarten will be offered in all Cebu City public schools to make sure that all grade one enrollees have taken preschool classes, Young said. (LCR)
