Volunteer cleaners turn up to help schools in need

Volunteer cleaners turn up to help schools in need

TWO Cebu City barangays will not have their new elementary schools when classes start this June.

Pupils of the Busay Elementary School and Sapangdaku Elementary School will still have to hold their classes in their temporary schools.

The City Government has yet to buy the lots where the schools will be transferred, around one year since these schools’ locations were found unsafe.

“During the Brigada Eskwela, I made a pledge of commitment that before my term will

end, the building should already be ready for occupancy,” said Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, after visiting Sapangdaku yesterday morning.

At the annual Brigada Eskwela, when volunteers clean up, fix and prepare public schools for the new school year, the need for more classrooms was again apparent.

In Cebu City’s 122 public elementary and high schools, at least 78 new classrooms and 3,441 desks and chairs are needed.

In Mandaue City, public schools need more than 300 classrooms to accommodate enrollees in the coming school year.

In Lapu-Lapu City, the number of classrooms needed will be known after enrollment, said Lapu-Lapu City Division Superintendent Eduardo Ompad of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Talisay City also expects an increase in enrollment in public schools, but Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Leah Noveras assured they have enough classrooms and chairs.

Safer

The need for safer classrooms in Cebu City’s Barangays Sapangdaku and Busay surfaced last year.

Since the City ordered the transfer of the schools, Sapangdaku Elementary School has been temporarily holding classes in the barangay hall.

As for Busay, Rama said the process of buying the lot where the school will be transferred will be handled by Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella.

City Hall ordered the Busay Elementary School to transfer last year after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources tagged the area as landslide-prone.

They had to temporarily hold classes in the barangay gym, which was converted into a makeshift school.

When classes open next month, the DepEd Cebu City Division is expecting 175,500 enrollees for both elementary and secondary public schools for school year 2015-2016.

Volunteers

DepEd Cebu City Assistant Division Superintendent Danilo Godelosao said the number is two percent higher than the 171,000 enrollees last school year.

“Every school year, we project at least a two percent increase in the number of enrollees,” he said.

Godelosao went around some schools in the city, particularly in the mountain barangays, during yesterday’s opening of Brigada Eskwela.

Less than a month before the return of classes, volunteers yesterday gathered to fix classrooms and clean up schools.

The DepEd holds the Brigada Eswela every year to unite communities as the lack of facilities continues to hound public schools.

According to the DepEd Mandaue City Division, at least 75 classrooms are needed for kindergarten, 116 for elementary and 155 for high school.

The schools also need more chairs. At least 1,875 chairs are needed for kindergarten, 5,220 for elementary and 6,525 for high school.

Dr. Virginia Zapanta, division superintendent of Mandaue City, said they expect more than 40,000 enrollees for elementary and more than 20,000 for high school this year.

Doing everything

“We still lack classrooms but we are doing everything to solve this problem. We are lucky we have people from the private sector who are helping,” she told reporters.

Zapanta estimated that the city also lacks about 200 public school teachers. There are 27 public elementary schools and 23 public high schools in the city.

Zapanta and Subangdaku Barangay Captain Ernie Manatad yesterday led the launching of the weeklong Brigada Eskwela in the Subangdaku Elementary School.

The school was awarded best implementer of the program in 2012 and 2013.

Subangdaku Barangay Captain Ernie Manatad said 2,000 to 3,000 volunteers, including teachers, students, parents and barangay officials, participate in the activity every year.

Manatad said the barangay sets aside P200,000 every year for the Brigada Eskwela in the Subangdaku Elementary School and Subangdaku Technical and Vocational School.

He said the Philippine Councilors League-Cebu Federation Chapter donated 25 cans of paint, 15 trash bins and balls for basketball and volleyball.

Getting ready

In Lapu-Lapu City, Mayor Paz Radaza led the activity in the Gun-ob National High School. Radaza said 44 classrooms are being constructed in different schools in the city.

As for Talisay, Superintendent Noveras said that the division is expecting an estimated increase of more than 3,000 students.

Last year, 32,649 students signed up. Noveras said she expects an increase of 10 percent in this year’s school opening.

But she assured that they are ready to welcome students, and that Talisay has acquired around 4,000 new chairs through the City’s Special Education Fund.

While they are still awaiting additional funds from DepEd, Noveras said they acquired new chairs before the last school year ended.

Aside from that, there is an ongoing construction of four classrooms in public schools in Tapul, Bulacao, Pooc and Cansojong. Work on 20 more classrooms in the Talisay City Central School is set to start this year.

Noveras said that in the case of a shortage, she has advised all public school administrators in the city to conduct double shifting of classes, provided that pupils and students spend at least six hours in school.