AT LEAST 10,000 people have so far participated in Mandaue City, as this year’s Brigada Eskwela of the Department of Education (DepEd) kicked off last August 2, 2022.
Dr. Mylene Ordilla, DepEd Division of Mandaue's Senior Education Program specialist and Brigada Eskwela coordinator, told SunStar Cebu on Thursday, August 4, 2022, that the participants include parents, teachers, and personnel of the Mandaue City Government and other private firms.
Ordilla clarified that the number of participants may still increase, stressing that the Brigada Eskwela just started last August 1.
The Brigada Eskwela this year has been conducted full-blown to focus on delivering access to education and quality of education. It is divided into two main categories: physical aspect and education quality facet.
For the physical aspect (Brigada Eskwela sa Paghahanda), the activities will focus on school maintenance, particularly the minor to medium repairs of school facilities.
The education quality facet (Brigada Eskwela Plus) will prioritize increasing learner participation, reducing dropouts, and improving education quality in participating schools to increase student performance.
Under the education quality facet category will also be the "Brigada Pagbasa," an after-school reading remediation program in response to DepEd's 3Bs Initiatives (Bawat Bata Bumabasa) that point to improving the reading ability of the students.
All of which aim to safely open classes and gradually reintroduce the shift from a blended learning setup to five days of in-person classes beginning August 22.
Ordilla said the Brigada Eskwela in Mandaue has always been well participated, even last year when it was virtually held.
She said they gathered around 32,518 participants, particularly parents who joined the activities last year. Some activities then include the distribution of learning modules and guiding the parents to ensure that their children are truly learning with the online classes.
Ordilla said they are looking forward to more parents participating in this year’s activities, especially now that the Brigada Eskwela is conducted face-to-face.
This year’s theme is "Brigada Eskwela: Tugon sa Hamon ng Ligtas na Balik-Aral." The Brigada Eskwela will run from August 1 to August 26, but schools have been told to launch it before August 15.
"Actually, Bridaga is whole year round, but we particularly, the DepEd Central Office (Manila), set specific dates to work more on this activity," said Ordilla. (HIC)