SPECIAL SERVICES

DELIA F. DIZON

As a high seeks to accomplish its many purposes and provide the best possible educational program for each youth, it will necessarily provide certain parallel services and opportunities for its students. Although at first glance some of these services may seem only indirectly related to the traditional and legitimate work of the school, their absence would be critical in reducing efficiency and effectiveness. Also, their acknowledged importance to the life of the school and of its students clearly marks them as more than per i pher al .

Among such special services are those of library, of health, food, transportation. These constitute a phase of the organization and operation of the school that must be specifically geared to the local conditions within which the school operates. When most students live within easy walking distance of the school for instance, and ample public transportation is available for those who live further from the school. When a well stocked and ably staffed public library occupies space in the school building, a separate school library would be difficult to justify. Yet in the vast majority of Philippine schools, such circumstances do not pertain, and the need for school libraries and the school transportation is clear.

It is occasionally argued that such services should be provided by agencies other than the schools, and questions are raised concerning the need for the services n accomplishing the major purposes of formal education. The answer is found by a simple inspection of the operation of any good school. Somehow youth must be kept in good health. They must be adequately clothed, and they must be gotten to school. They must have an opportunity to obtain good food decently served during a school day of normal length. Further, among other aspects of the learning experience that must be available to them are the resources for acquiring enjoyment of varied literature and developing the skills of library usage. If all of those provisions are made by other agencies, the fortunate school will not find it necessary to provide them itself. Yet such a school is rare, indeed, and the typical high school must have health services, a library, a canteen, and a mean s toa id the youth whose financial resources are seriously below par. For most schools, these are ver special services and require thoughtful planning and skillful staffing to be most effective.

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The author is Principal of San Roque Dau 1st National High School, San Roque Dau 1st, Lubao, Pampanga