Friday, September 19, 2008 The IGaCoS DepEd By Roger P. Antalan Dateline IGaCoS
TEACHING is never just a job. There is nothing more inspiring than having a mind unfold before you. Henry Brooks Adams says more: "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence ends." More than enough reason, therefore, to take a good look at the educational set-up of our community.
Five years ago, the DepEd Division of the Island Garden City of Samal started to wean itself from the mother division of Davao del Norte. Last April 2008, the separation was complete and Samal DepEd is now an independent division.
At the helm of the new division is the hardworking but fair officer-in-charge, Recolito Y. delos Reyes, holding the position of Assistant Schools Division Superintendent. There are 550 nationally funded public school teachers: 399 in the elementary and 151 in the secondary.
In addition, there are 30 teachers funded by the Local School Board: 13 in the elementary and 17 in the secondary. There are 18 non-teaching personnel.
The total school population consists of 733 pre-schoolers, 14,053 elementary pupils, and 5,754 high school students. There are 6 primary schools, 45 elementary schools, and 13 high schools including annexes.
The year 2008 is turning out to be a great year. The young division ranks second in the elementary level among the 10 school divisions in Region 11 in the National Achievement Test. It is highly competitive with the other nine divisions in the other academic and non-academic competitions.
Although newly organized, it has well-formulated vision and mission statements. The vision reads: "A school's division of character and competence committed to the accessibility and pursuit of quality basic education that shall prepare the learners for global competitiveness through the empowered shareholders."
This is the mission statement: "To provide access to quality basic education to all. To equip its learners with necessary and relevant skills, knowledge and attitudes through maximum utilization of resources and active participation among policy-makers, school heads, teachers, parents and community in order to make them competent, value-laden, environment friendly, self-reliant, patriotic and socially-responsible graduates."
The division's programs, projects, and activities coincide and are inconsonance with the Department of Education's pursuit of its twin goals of universal coverage for children of school age and improving quality learning.
The goal of total enrolment as in most regions of Mindanao cannot be realistically met. In IGaCoS, for school year 2008, there was a slightly higher enrolment figure of 550 pupils in the elementary and 572 students in high school. Poverty was the main reason given for the moderate increase.
This school year, the dropout rate for the elementary and the secondary are 0.30% and 6.68% respectively. This is an improvement of the previous year's 2.21% for the elementary and 7.63% for the secondary.
A number of interventions were launched to address the problem, of low enrollment and dropouts. First, there's the "Oplan Balik Eskwela," a community level campaign to encourage parents to pre-register children of school age.
Second, to improve attendance the Food for Schools Program was launched which provided fortified rice for the pupils for 120 days. In addition, the health personnel of the division gave regular medical and dental services to the pupils.
Third, for the out of school youth, the division employs the Alternative Learning Center (ALS) in the delivery of basic education service. At present, there are nine mobile teachers or community-based instructional managers for children, youth and adults who are in unique and difficult situations.
On the other hand, great emphasis must be given to the quality of learning and teaching. First to be mentioned is the Ecarp-Every Child a Reader Program. This program is a direct response to the finding that the poor performance of students in Grade 6 and 4th year high school was mainly due to poor reading and comprehension skills.
Another important program is the training and development for teachers, more particularly, for proficiency in teaching English, Science, and Mathematics. Special mention goes to BEAM-the Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao- an Australian government assisted project, which has been conducting summer in-service programs for teachers since 2004.
With the trend on technology-based learning and the computerization program, the IGaCoS Division has been implementing the Gilas project to all secondary schools with the computers providing local area networks.
Other programs that deal with System Reforms and Financial Reforms are ongoing. The LGU of IGaCoS has continuously supported the different projects of DepEd through the SEF-the Special Education Fund.
The new IGaCoS DepEd has still many needs. To be fully operational, it needs the following: teachers-51 for the elementary and 65 for the secondary; classrooms- 51 for the elementary and 23 for the secondary; school furniture's (seats) 2,279 for the elementary and 1503 for the secondary.
In conclusion, it is said that "the object of teaching is to enable those taught to get along in the future without a teacher." The Chinese proverb says: "Learning is a treasure that accompanies its owner everywhere."
What about those who have to stay behind by the nature of their work, the road signs that point to the right directions, the often forgotten heroes who labor day in and day out, despite meager resources, -- the teachers. They need the continued support of all stake holders, the government, the parents, the community, the civic-minded citizen, and most especially, the graduates.
