‘Lapu-Lapu built 669 classrooms in a year’

A total of 669 classrooms were constructed in the public schools of Lapu-Lapu City within a year using funds of the local and national governments.

City Mayor Radaza reported during her state of the city address (Soca) last Wednesday that these classrooms were completed from 2015 to 2016.

She said the construction of 74 more classrooms is ongoing. This includes the two-story, four-classrooms buildings for the senior high schools of Babag, Mactan, Bankal, and Marigondon National High Schools.

“As the City Mayor, education has been one of my topmost priorities. I believe that there is no other way for our children and our youth to build a good foundation in life than getting an adequate and right education,” she said.

The mayor believes that in order to provide quality education, the number of classrooms needed in the public schools should be addressed. A part of the 8,000 attendees in the Soca were students.

In her speech, Radaza said the City Government also hired 75 teachers to address the lack of teaching personnel in Lapu-Lapu.

The teachers from different schools underwent information and communication technology literacy skills develoment training.

Some of the teachers were provided with a scholarship program to pursue masters and doctorate degrees. Lapu-Lapu has now 13 scholars.

Aside from addressing the lack of classrooms and teachers, Radaza said the City provided the students with a digital library that contains thousands of science and technology resources called Starbooks, and contextualized supplementary learning materials for senior high schools.

A group of students from LapuLapu ranked 7th place in the Robotics Football category during the World Robot Olympiad in India,

Radaza and the Department of Education (DepEd) Lapu-Lapu Division launched the Robotics for Education Program last May.

Its purpose is to assist in the promotion of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and develop the critical thinking and team-building skills of the students, said Radaza.

To support this program, the City Government provided robotics kits to all public elementary and high schools as part of their laboratory materials.

“The program also provides a great opportunity in relation to the rising demand for robotics in the local and international scene,” Radaza said.

As part of keeping the students safe, the City Government and DepEd in Lapu-Lapu conducted a series of student symposiums, which tackled child protection policy, drug awareness and the local government unit’s support to education. This was done in the first quarter of this year.

For tertiary education, the LGU turned over additional computer sets to the Lapu-Lapu City College.