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Monday, January 19, 2004
Funds delay leads to power cut in school
KORONADAL CITY -- Close to 10,000 students at a government-owned high school here will have to go through classes without electricity as the local power provider cut off the school's electric supply since Thursday.
Because of the power cut, school administrators of the Koronadal National Comprehensive High School (KNCHS) have decided to cut 10 minutes off every class period starting Monday.
Edith Baptista, KNCHS principal, said the South Cotabato Electric Cooperative I disconnected their power connection because the school failed to pay its bill accumulated over a three-month period.
While Baptista expressed no ill will against the power provider for cutting the school's electricity supply, she chided the system of funds delivery observed by officials at Department of Education (DepEd) 12.
"Our school is better off when we were still under the Region 11 DepEd. Our funds came on time then than now that we are under the Region 12 DepEd," she said.
Students now have no choice but to study in an atmosphere not conducive to learning, Bautista said.
Baptista said the school, which consumes close to P50,000 in electric bill per month, still has a balance of close to P80,000 after paying P30,000 last week.
Baptista also revealed that the school is also not getting its monthly allocation from the central Mindanao DepEd office.
In December, she said that the school only received P25,000, although they are supposed to get a monthly fund of at least P200,000 to cover maintenance and operating expenses.
For 2003, Baptista said they were supposed to get P2.3 million, but so far only P1.4 was released.
She said she tried reach DepEd 12, but could not be entertained as the regional director is reportedly in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, South Cotabato governor Daisy Avance Fuentes said she already brought the matter to the Department of Budget and Management. AST
(January 19, 2004 issue)
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