THE administrators of Jaclupan National High School in Talisay City, Cebu appreciated the individuals and organizations that helped them in acquiring transistor radios for their radio-based instruction for distance learning amid the public health emergency caused by Covid-19.
A total of 322 transistor radios for students had been received by the school as of Thursday, Sept. 23, 2020, said school principal Eamon Alido.
“We are thankful for all of the internal and external stakeholders, including our teachers, who initiated the Teachers’ Initiative Program to help our less fortunate students acquire either used or new transistor radios,” he said in a mix of Cebuano and English
Jaclupan National High School adopted a mixed mode of learning delivery for the incoming school year 2020-2021: A modular distance learning aided with radio-based instruction.
Members of Ford Ranger Cebu Group (FRCG), a group of car enthusiasts in Cebu, donated 100 transistor radios to JNHS.
Michael Allan Flores, FRCG president, said the group understood that one of the badly affected sectors in the pandemic sparked by coronavirus disease 2019 is education.
Flores said the group often conducts an annual outreach program. However, the Covid-19 health crisis derailed the group’s charitable activity.
In August, FRCG members had planned to push through with their outreach activity somewhere in southern part of Cebu Province, which was already under modified general community quarantine, before reading SunStar Cebu’s Aug. 23 editorial on Jaclupan students.
FRCG, said Flores, further learned about Jaclupan students’ plight after its member, a Jaclupan resident himself, reported their situation.
Individual donors
Aside from FRCG, Alido said several private individuals donated cash to the school while others donated 17 second-hand radio transistors. The donated money enabled the school to buy 205 radios worth P290 each.
Rhea Gullas, wife of Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr., will also provide the school with transistor radios.
Through the help of well-meaning individuals and groups, the school was able to put up its own on-site radio booth and got its own radio frequency modulation (FM) broadcast band—a first in Central Visayas—for its radio-based instruction modality.
Enrollees
Alido said the school’s latest number of enrollees is 1, 643. Of the number, only few have access to devices and internet. He said a total of 1,240 chose to take their lessons via radio; however, of these enrollees, 689 do not have their own transistor radios.
Of the 20 clusters that the school had made, Alido said they will prioritize students from Clusters 2, 3 and 4, or those students from far-flung sitios, including Sitios Bugna and Buad.
“If these students are dismissed around 5 p.m. or 5:30 p.m., they will reach their homes around 7 p.m. We will prioritize 123 students,” Alido said.
He said they plan to purchase the next batch of radio transistors next week.
Jaclupan is a remote village bounded by Barangay Campo IV in the northwest, Barangay Tapul in the southwest and Barangays Maghaway, Lagtang and Cadulawan in the southeast.