LEARNING MUST CONTINUE

The author is Teacher Pampanga.

ANGELITA P. NAVARRO

Department of Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said the opening of this school year should be without difficulty for the thousands upon thousands of learners nationwide, especially that those from Marawi have endured so much in the past year.

Briones said that the DepEd is hopeful that learners are able to enroll and attend the first day of classes with less concerns, and that the Department is confident that they are not wanting in support from people and organizations whose passion for education will enable affected learners and personnel to take a step from the shadow of the war and look forward to learning as their link to normalcy in the present and hope for the future.

It has been exactly one year (May 23) after the siege that took away lives, livelihood, education, and opportunities from the residents of Marawi City. The DepEd led by Briones and its partners will once more work together to enable learners and their families to turn over a new leaf and greet the new school year with better hope and continuous education through the conclusion of Brigada Eskwela sa Marawi (BESM) and the launch of Oplan Balik Eskwela sa Marawi (OBEM).

Briones said that historically, May 23, 2017 will be remembered as the day bullets and extremism tore down the beautiful City of Marawi.

“However, let it be remembered that May 23, 2018 is the day restored hope, sustained bayanihan, and continued education will help rebuild the dreams that our Marawi learners once thought were lost,” she stated.

The Education chief, who relentlessly campaigned that “education must continue” for the displaced learners since the war started, will visit ground zero for the first time where 20 schools destroyed in the armed conflict are included in the government’s overall rehabilitation of the area.

Secretary Briones noted that DepEd, in cooperation with DepEd Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), has been surveying 69 schools in the city to assess integrity and safety for learners’use. While not all schools in Marawi will be able to welcome learners when classes open on June 4 due to poor and unsafe condition, a clustering system of adjacent schools will be implemented to ensure that learners will be accommodated.

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III at Bebe Anak Elementary School, Masantol