Salceda honors Gawad Albay sa Edukasyon awardees

LEGAZPI CITY— Albay Gov. Joey Salceda honored and gave financial rewards amounting to P1.3 million to the province’s outstanding principals, teachers, high school students and local government units during the 5th Gawad Albay sa Edukasyon Awards held at the Astrodome Friday afternoon.

Twelve principals, 50 teachers, 40 students were given honors and awards five years ago since Salceda started the project to improve the quality of education in the province.

The Gawad Albay sa Edukasyon Awards has consistently improved the performance of Grave VI pupils in the National Achievement Test and the cohort survival ratio for elementary pupils over the years.

“These awards show how we value the contributions of our principals, teachers, students and mayors in making schools competitive,” said Salceda who was inspired by the dedication of her mother, the late Cielo Salceda, who was a public educator.

The three outstanding principals were Gemma Sapo of Marcial O. Rañola Memorial School in Guinobatan, Albay who receives P200,000 ; Elena Tasic of Sto. Domingo National High School P150,000 and Augusto Bordeos of Tabaco North Central Elementary School P100,000 and respective trophies.

The ten outstanding teachers who each received P100,000 were Jobert Balunsay and Emerson Brosas both from the Tabaco National High School; Emily Ruivivar of Ligao National High School; Angelica Zuñiga of Daraga National High School; Olivia Burcer of Tabaco South Central Elementary School; Ronaldo Buella of Tabaco South Central Elementary School; Ted Villamor of Bicol Regional Science High School in Ligao City; Nelson Bataller of San Jose National High School; Hilda Remendado of Polangui General Comprehensive High School and Rommel Marquez of Vinisitahan National High School.

Awardees for the search for student excellence in academics and leadership receive P20,000 each.

The municipality of Polangui headed by Mayor Cherilie Sampal also receives P200,000 and a trophy for being the Most Outstanding Kadunong Award for best practices in education for a local government unit while the municipality of Camalig under Mayor Carlos Baldo and Mayor Herbie Aguas of Sto. Domingo also received P100,000 each as honorable mention.

Albay is the only province in the country which has its own education department.

At present, the provincial government has 29,700 college scholars 16,000 of them are enrolled under the Albay Higher Education Contribution Scheme (AHECS) or study-now-pay-later- plan while another 13,700 scholars are enrolled at the Bicol University and other community colleges in the province under the Education Quality for Albayanos (EQUAL).

The Gawad Albay sa Edukasyon Awards is a joint project of the PED in partnership with Bicol University, Department of Education, Delfin A. Co Foundation, Inc. and the Junior Chamber International(JCI)-Legazpi. —