|
Sunday, June 08, 2008
2 metro cities seek teachers
By Oscar C. Pineda and Allan I. Varquez
CEBU CITY -- The need for more teachers and classrooms persists, especially in the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, two days before the opening of classes this Tuesday.
Mandaue expects some 40,000 pupils, or an increase of 5,000, crowding its public schools, aggravating the ratio of at least 60 students for every teacher.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
Lapu-Lapu expects to cater to a minimum two percent increase in the number of enrollees, both in the primary and secondary levels, requiring an additional 100 teachers and 85 classrooms.
Among the reasons for the increase are the migration of Mactan Economic Zone (Mez) workers and their families and the number of dropouts availing themselves of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) zero fee and non-requirement of uniforms for elementary pupils.
City Schools Superintendent Carmelita Dulangon said they are setting up tents in playgrounds and are converting some clinics, libraries, and cultural stages into temporary classrooms to address the problem.
In Mandaue, City Schools Superintendent Arden Monisit said the 14-percent increase requires an additional 125 to beef up the 1,300-strong teaching force.
He said that in their recent superintendents’ meeting, the DepEd announced that 10,000 teaching positions are ready for distribution nationwide.
He, however, did not say how many will be allotted for Mandaue.
Monisit said increase in the number of pupils was usually just two to five percent.
But the recently-issued DepEd Order 19, which prohibits the collection of voluntary contributions, may have caused the difference of nine to 12 percentage points, as it encouraged students to enroll.
Mandaue has 56 elementary schools, 13 high schools, and six night high schools.
Like in Lapu-Lapu’s case, Monisit also attributed the increase to the influx of migrants, attracted by work opportunities, from the provinces.
He said that the current ratio, specifically in Cabancalan II National High School, is a teacher for a class of 60.
Lapu-Lapu elementary students numbered 42,555 last year. They were taught and handled by DepEd-hired 918 teachers.
The number was supplemented with 52 new college graduates receiving salaries and allowances from the City Government to help teach elementary students.
The high school population numbered 21,904 students, and was handled by 544 teachers, 69 of whom were on the City Hall’s payroll.
“We obviously had a shortage of teachers last year, if we are going to follow the standard of one teacher for every 50 students,” said Rosemarie Lasmaria, Dulangon’s administrative officer.
Dulangon said that to oblige parents to send their children to school, the DepEd implemented the “roll-on policy” by automatically enrolling dropouts to the next grade.
“If the child stopped at grade 2, he will be enrolled in grade 3 this year. So the two percent minimal increase is due to transferees and pupils in grade 1,” she said.
Dulangon said she will need 50 more teachers each for elementary and high school, and 85 new classrooms.
She said 50 new high school teachers and extension classes at night will solve the problem.
According to a 2006 survey, only 72 classrooms and 84 teachers were made available to night classes in Lapu-Lapu. Given that there were 4,191 students, this meant that 58 students, on the average, shared every classroom.
As to pre-school centers, only 14 out of 30 barangays had the facility.
Dulangon said that aside from new teachers, City Hall is also paying for the power and water consumption of most public schools.
It is a good thing some companies participated in the government’s adopt-a-school program and helped fund the construction of classrooms, she said.
“We are now ready for the first day of classes,” she told Sun.Star shortly after a meeting with school principals and barangay officials in her office Saturday morning.
According to a survey by the Local Government Performance Management Committee (LGPMC), Lapu-Lapu’s education ranking dropped in 2006 because of inadequate pre-school buildings and the lack of teachers and classrooms for night high schools.
The LGPMC is composed of City Hall department heads and a Department of Interior and Local Government officer.
For Monisit, the lack of school buildings and classroom maintenance are manageable in Mandaue because the City Hall and private firms helped. So did the parent-initiated Brigada Eskwela.
Additional textbooks are also coming, he said, after school officials requested the DepEd central office for more based on the increase in the number of enrollees.
He will establish the actual number of enrollees in the next few weeks and submit it to the national office for the additional textbooks, which usually arrive by August.
He said City Hall may be forced to hire new teachers if DepEd does not open up plantilla positions for Mandaue. The City currently employs 60 of the DepEd’s 1,300 teachers.
Monisit said the City already released P1.5 million for repairs and maintenance of classrooms and school buildings; they are just waiting for the City Engineer’s Office’s program of works and estimates.
He expected implementation within the month.
“We had a plan to add another P1.5 million,” he said, but added that they have yet to discuss it in their next school board meeting.
From June 2 to 6, parents helped in cleaning, repairing and painting classrooms during the Brigada Eskwela campaign.
Monisit also thanked the Mandaue City Chamber of Commerce and Industry for writing the establishments his office identified to possibly adopt classrooms.
For example, he said, Goldilocks provided the snacks for Barangay Casili parents participating in the Brigada Eskwela. (Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (June 8, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Police chief axed for illegal logs