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Monday, June 05, 2006
Schools lean on local government help
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
CEBU CITY -- Faster ways of addressing problems like the lack of classrooms, teachers and armchairs, and concerns about late enrollees and transferees are in place in all public schools in Central Visayas as the new school year opens Monday.
That assurance came from Department of Education (DepEd) 7 Director Carolino Mordeno, who said the Oplan Balik Eskwela is expected to keep the opening of classes smooth.
But except for Cebu City, the public schools in the cities of Danao, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Talisay and Toledo still need additional teachers.
Some local government units (LGUs) are helping pay for the construction of classrooms, the purchase of textbooks and the hiring of teachers to fill the region's needs.
In the meantime, Mordeno said, he will also ask principals and teachers with lighter subject loads to teach more.
The hiring of teachers using National Government funds will be done in priority areas, like new schools that do not have teachers yet and schools with where teachers handle classes with up to 60 pupils, Mordeno added.
For the Cebu Schools Division, which needs 270 teachers -- the highest in the region -- for high schools, the Cebu Provincial Government will pay for the salaries of 80 teachers this school year to fill up the positions.
Cebu Schools Division Superintendent Recaredo Borgonia said the Provincial School Board (PSB) will source out the funds from the Special Education Fund.
Based on last year's enrollment, DepEd 7 projects a need for 202 elementary teachers and 713 high school teachers in the region.
There is no shortage of applicants, Borgonia said, only the lack of funds to employ the teachers, who receive a monthly salary of about P9,000.
For the Cebu Schools Division alone, 2,997 teachers applied for the 321 vacant posts, he revealed.
Borgonia also noted a drop in enrollment figures for the past two years-an indication that concerns on the lack of textbooks, desks, chairs and armchairs will be addressed soon.
The PSB is purchasing 10,000 armchairs this school year.
According to DepEd 7 estimates, the Cebu Schools Division needs 43,878 armchairs for grade school pupils and 31,520 for high school students.
Borgonia said the delivery of the armchairs is ongoing.
Under the Balik Eskwela program, Information and Action Centers will be set up in all the 15 division offices and the regional office to address concerns or to relay problems to the DepEd central office.
Borgonia also confirmed that Cebu's district representatives already signed the priority lists for classrooms under the School Building Program, amounting to P30.67 million for Cebu, including the cities of Talisay, Toledo, Danao, Lapu-Lapu and Mandaue.
Representative Simeon Kintanar (second district), Antonio Yapha (third district) and Clavel Asas-Martinez (fourth district), Eduardo Gullas (first district) and Nerissa Soon-Ruiz (sixth district) signed the lists made by the school division office long before. The latest congressman who concurred with the list was Representativge Red Durano (fifth district), who signed it just last Wednesday.
Borgonia said some of the district representatives suggested changes in the list but they later agreed to the recommendations of the division office.
According to the SBP list, the Cebu City Schools Division will get an allocation of about P13 million.
Cebu City representatives Raul del Mar (north district) and Antonio Cuenco (south district) confirmed they already signed the priority lists a month ago. Cebu City still needs 253 classrooms-the highest in the region-for elementary pupils.
Cebu City Schools Division Superintendent Leonillo Oliva said that aside from the P130 million that the City Government is allocating for classrooms, the ones that will be constructed under the SBP were already pre-bid. Construction may start by the middle of the year.
Del Mar wanted to prioritize the building of classrooms in Barangay Sirao, where a school was relocated since it was landslide-prone.
However, Mayor Tomas Osmeña said the City will take care of the matter.
Cuenco, for his part, however, concurred with the list but suggested that priority will be given to the schools in Barangays Poblacion Pardo, Basak Pardo and Labangon. (Sun.Star Cebu)
(June 5, 2006 issue)
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