AT LEAST 1.7 million young learners in Central Visayas are expected in public schools during the first day of classes today.
Officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) 7 said that while they are 98 percent ready for the opening of classes, there are still 38 public schools in the region that are “not ready” for the school opening.
Salustriano Jimenez, DepEd 7 assistant director, told SunStar Cebu the 38 public schools are not ready because of various reasons such as lack of classrooms, lack of teachers, lack of chairs, and the absence of proper water and sanitation facilities, among others. Jimenez didn’t provide a list of the 38 schools.
Despite not being ready, these 38 schools will need to accept pupils and students today and will have to make improvements within the school year to fill in the gaps, Jimenez said.
Jimenez said that DepEd expects a one- to two-percent increase in enrollment in public schools this school year.
Although classes in the 126 public schools in Cebu City are opening today, the DepEd Cebu City Schools Division is expecting an influx of late enrollees.
DepEd Cebu City Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Danilo Gudelosao said most late enrollees are high school students who extend their summer breaks up to the first week of classes.
“We accept late enrollment until June 30, but OK pa after June 30 basta total absences dili molapas sa 20 percent sa tibuok tuig (Those who enroll after June 30 will have to make sure their total absences don’t make up 20 percent or more of the required class days),” Gudelosao said.
DepEd Order 25 provides that learners must be in school for a total of 200 class days.
“Pwede pa dawaton ang (We can still accept) late enrollees after June 30 on a case-to-case basis. Until July 31 yes, for as long as that student’s grades are not lower than 80 percent average from the second to fourth grading periods,” he added.
Last year, the number of enrollees in Central Visayas reached 1.7 million in the public schools, while around 193,000 enrolled in the private schools.
Assistant Director Jimenez said that 6,000 teachers assigned in different public schools in Central Visayas are ready to welcome their students today.
Aside from the 6,000 teachers, Jimenez added, they are hiring at least 300 new teachers for senior high school.
In Cebu City, DepEd is expecting around 178,772 public school pupils and students from kindergarten to grade 12. Gudelosao said this is two percent higher than the total number of students in the last school year, which was 175,267.
Aside from late enrollees, DepEd Cebu City Division is also anticipating constraints on classroom facilities.
“It’s a yearly problem and were still working on it. There are ongoing repairs and construction of new buildings to address our concerns on classroom shortage. The Department of Public Works and Highways is handling the construction and they are working closely with our central office,” Gudelosao said.
He added that construction work on additional classrooms is ongoing in Pit-os National High School and 20 other public schools.
Meanwhile, the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) has fielded around 100 enforcers to supervise traffic today.
CCTO operations head Francisco Ouano said traffic enforcers deployed on a portion of N. Bacalso Ave. where the construction of a multi-million underpass is ongoing will be on duty from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. starting today. Heavy congestion is expected in the area now that the summer break is over.
“We’ve coordinated with our police and barangay tanods, but we still need everyone’s cooperation. Please follow traffic rules to avoid incidents,” Ouano said.