INCOMING high school students from three barangays of Mandaue City can soon go to school closer to home.
Mayor Jonas Cortes and the Local School Board (LSB) agreed to build two national high schools for Barangays Cubacub, Basak, and Tawason, which will all soon introduce high school lessons for the upcoming academic year.
This initiative was agreed upon during a meeting on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, said City Councilor Malcolm Sanchez, chairman of the committee on education, on June 1, 2023.
Sanchez said the move seeks to decongest the high schools in barangays Canduman and Labogon.
“Existing na ng classrooms kay ang gamiton natong classroom kay elementary ra man. Manghuwam tas elementary depending on the number of students nga mu eskwela,” Sanchez said.
(The classrooms that we will use are already available. We will borrow from the elementary school, depending on the number of students.)
“For example, in Tawason, the teacher said they have 79 Grade 6 students who will graduate from elementary school, so the parents will be required to sign an agreement with DepEd stating that these children will attend Tawason High School, freeing up two classrooms in the elementary school and saving us money,” said the councilor.
The two classrooms will be used for elementary classes in the morning, and high school lessons in the afternoon.
Cortes also plans to build medium-rise school buildings due to a limited amount of space.
Some schools have no available space, thus the need to buy lots for additional classrooms, the mayor said.
“We all know diri sa Mandaue ilabi na mahala sa atong yuta, pero atong gipaningkamutan makakita tag luna nga matukuran para sa atoang additional school building,” Cortes said.
(We all know here in Mandaue that land is very expensive, but we are trying to find a place to build an additional school building.)
The mayor urged the head of each school to propose a long-term plan so that sponsors or donors might support the idea of constructing medium-rise school buildings to ensure that the usage of the property is not wasted.
In the long run, Cortes added that the city plans for “future building construction or whoever replaces the principal they have a follower that has a certain area for blendable, there is for open space, compliance with our vision and mission of a resilient city.”
The building of additional school facilities also aims to encourage the students, especially those who are not part-timers, to transfer to day classes so they would not go home late in the evening.
At present, two schools are holding night classes -- Mandaue City Comprehensive National High School and Casili Night High School.
Mymy Ordilla, officer-in-charge of Cubacub Elementary School, told SunStar Cebu on Tuesday, May 30, that they have a total of 16 classrooms, but they still need six more, which they could not build as of the moment due to lack of space. Thus, they hold half-day classes.
Other projects
The city is also looking into the establishment of a cistern tank in schools that can be used to store rainwater for various uses such as watering the plants and flushing the toilets.
The mayor also emphasized the importance of refurbishing the barangay gymnasiums that will serve as evacuation areas during emergency cases.
“Usa jud sa nakita nato pud ang dali madaganan kay eskwelahan jud. That’s why precisely gisugdan nato kanang barangay gyms. Gi re-design nato og multipurpose ang gymnasium,” Cortes said.
(One of the areas that we can easily convert into an evacuation center is the school. That’s why we redesigned the gymnasium as a multipurpose facility.)
The funds for the mentioned projects would come from either the city or national coffers, the mayor said.