DepEd’s perennial woes

SECRETARY Leonor Briones has mapped out her plans for the Department of Education in details after taking over the position of Brother Armin. She has plans to solve and remedy all the woes which I will mention in column today.

The first problem is the acute lack of schools and classrooms to accommodate all incoming students. The next is the lack of qualified teachers. Attending to this is the reasonable monthly salary of the teachers pegged at an average 8,000 pesos more or less. This is not enough to support a family so the teachers have to resort to selling food or other stuff in school while teaching which is prohibited. Some teachers resort to going abroad as OFW’s where the earn more.

Another paramount problem is the lack of schools and school rooms. The DepEd is the topmost in the list of given the highest allowed funds. There are planned constructions of new schools but hindrances are many. Suitable places could not be found. It is a welcome relief that civic minded organizations like Henry Sy’s educational fund for school buildings, Lingkod Kapamilyang ABS CBN, private individual philanthropists contribute, too.

The present situations are problematic concerning schools wrecked by the recent earthquakes, schools located in eroding and sliding lots, schools flooded after heavy rains. Dilapidated schools due to age since they were built. Schools used during disasters are vandalized. This can all be prevented by planning school locations based on safety provisions of the locality. See the Philvocs map of faults and avoid these locations. Places near bodies of water, mountain ranges, and the like should not be chosen as school sites. The ideal plan is to have a school building in every Barangay, in every large IP domains as the Lumads. Locate where affordable school buildings could be constructed with earthquake proof foundations.

UST, my Alma Mater is earthquake proof. The simple analogy is this, the rocking chair. The basement is shaped like a concave foundation which is like a rocking chair. It can shake to and fro without getting destroyed.

The schools should not be used as evacuation places during calamities. The government can use gyms, covered courts in the school grounds. Vandalized rooms are in total disarray. Books and teaching aids are destroyed. Tables and chairs are broken. Blackboards are smeared and scratched. Comfort rooms and washrooms are dirtied with foul smell. Electrical connections become defective. The rooms are useless at this situation.

Now let us analyze the K to 12 basic education plan situation. The president is mulling the idea of not continuing with it. Its implementation is riddled with problems. I had been against it for these reasons. The main aim is to make students fit for employment in certain techno courses after 12 years. All sufficient schools offering the courses are lacking. There is only one prototype as of now. This cannot serve the thousands of students reaching these end years.

They lack qualified teachers. Books already printed have many errors according to a seasoned reviewer of curricula. Right now two years in college have empty rooms and college teachers risked unemployment unless they take a course to be able to teach the techno oriented subjects of the K to 12 curriculum.

I examined the whole curriculum plan from kinder there was not enough exposure to moral value and right conduct in teaching the sublets. They are too pragmatic, the students do not become imbued with these qualities of genuine education. Training is not enough, it should include “education” making a student a genuine human being. Training is used with animals, too. K to 12 also includes a clause which states - if the senior high school graduate like it he can continue in a chosen career oriented bachelor’s degree. I hope the President will decide to discontinue the K to 12 plan.

I have my last comment on the Brigada Eskwela program one week or two weeks to clean up and repair broken furnishings, paint the whole school, mow the wooded lawns, fix electrical fixtures, clean comfort rooms and wash rooms. As a housewife, I have this suggestion. During summer the school should employ a caretaker to look after the cleanliness and upkeep of the rooms and the lawn. If he needs help to clean or mow the growing weeds or trees, he can ask the principal to get volunteers from available students or teachers.

I hope that on June 5 the school opening will have less problems because Secretary Leonor Briones had exerted all her efforts to resolve all the problems mentioned above and for a change, all activities must be done well with the cooperation of government, students and parents.

For comments text cp. no. 09202112534.