THE Department of Education (DepEd) annual's "Brigada Eskwela" set to kick-off Monday at the H. Bautista Elementary School in Marikina City.
With no less than Education Secretary Jesli Lapus and DepEd-National Capital Region (NCR) director Teresita Domalanta in attendance, Monday's event would serve as the formal start of the National Schools Maintenance Week in time for the opening of classes on June 10.
Aside from Marikina, Lapus will also grace the event at the Commonwealth and La Huerta Elementary Schools, both in Quezon City along with other education officials.
Lapus said Brigada Eskwela is a school- based maintenance program nationwide that engages all education stakeholders to contribute their time, efforts and resources in ensuring that public schools are all set in time for class opening.
"It is a week-long event where local communities, parents, alumni, civic groups, local businesses, non-government organizations (NGO), private individuals and even teachers and students volunteer their time, skills to do minor to medium repairs and maintenance work in the schools," Lapus said.
Lapus said "Brigada Eskwela" is just one of the many programs they are set to implement as part of their final preparation for the opening of classes in about 42,722 public schools nationwide.
He said the program is also a means to generate more public and private sector participation to the annual school event.
"It takes a community to educate a child and this is precisely the point of Brigada Eskwela, the voluntary participation of the community stakeholders for a better learning environment for our students," he said.
Over the years, Brigada Eskwela has mobilized an increasing amount of support from both the private and public sectors.
During its inception in 2003, the event received P153.16 million of school materials to P320.7 million in 2004 and P455.43 million in 2005.
In 2006, the effort was participated in by 29,000 elementary and secondary schools and generated almost P2 billion worth of volunteer man-days, labor support, donations-in-kind and community maintenance operating expenses.
By 2007, already 36,000 schools participated generating almost P2.3 billion worth of support from the community.
In order to spread the advantage of the Brigada Eskwela to the remaining and assure the pupils that all schools are ready for class opening, starting this school year and thereafter, the participation in the Brigada Eskwela program has been made mandatory among all public schools.
In a related development, Adopt-A-School Program director Mari Paul Soriano reported an increasing trend in terms of school participation and savings generated since it was launched in 2003.
Only 10 percent of all public schools did not participate in 2007.
Soriano noted that this year focus would be given on first time implementers and schools that had weak implementation of the program.
He challenged school heads to expand Brigada Eskwela beyond a week.
He encouraged them to continue school improvement efforts and sustain partnerships with stakeholders in the community.
"Let's go beyond physical repairs and school facilities. Let's focus on increasing participation rates, reducing dropout rates, and improving achievement and health and nutrition status of children," he said.
Monday's event will also see the formal launch of "Brigada Eskwela's music video of DepEd endorser, singer and composer Yeng Constantino. The video will be disseminated to all the regions and screened in major cinemas in the Metro Manila. It will serve as a TV commercial in donated ad spaces in key media outfits.
Earlier, Lapus said they are expecting a total of 21.66 million elementary and secondary students to troop to classes, 18.81 million of which are in public schools or about 87 percent and 2.85 million in the private sector.
Of the total, 6.66 million are secondary students with 5.33 million in public schools or about 80 percent and 1.33 million in private schools. Those in the elementary level total 13.93 million with 12.84 million in the public sector or 92 percent and 1.09 million in the private schools.
In the pre-school level, a total of 1.06 million with .64 million in the public sector (60 percent) and .42 million in the private sector. (AH/Sunnex)
