Back to school woes

Shortage in educational materials and school facilities, such as chairs and blackboards, has been a perennial problem in Philippine public schools, especially felt every start of a school year.

School year 2013 to 2014 for public elementary and secondary schools nationwide officially opened last June 3 and ends on March 21, 2014.

During the June 1 episode of Pagtuki, the official radio program of HYPERLINK “http://www.rafi.org.ph” Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), Dr. Danny Gudilusao, education supervisor in Science of the Department of Education (DepEd) Cebu City Division, said that shortage of education resources is aggravated with the drastic increase in the number of enrolees.

“There is a projected two percent increase of student population for this school year. As the student population grows, we need to address concerns like lack of classrooms in the public schools. Late enrolment, which happens every year, also adds to our list,” he pointed out.

According to DepEd, lack of classrooms in school year 2011 to 2012 was pegged at 152, 569.

“With the help of Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), there will be another 1,000 classrooms to be constructed within this year. We are closely working with the agency to address the current needs of our education system,” Dr. Carmelita Dulangon, regional director of DepEd 7, said.

This school year marks the second year of implementing the K to 12 program. Gudilusao underscored the pre-service trainings on DepEd policies and the K to 12 curriculum that teachers underwent. During its first year, he said, learning resources were distributed to different schools.

“Through our massive information-dissemination and advocacy campaigns, we let the parents understand the essence of the new education program,” he said.

For Anton Dignadice, executive director of RAFI’s  HYPERLINK ” http://rafi.org.ph/education/” Education Development unit, the Foundation’s programs supports the initiatives of DepEd to help improve the education system in the province. The School Rehabilitation Program (SRP) of RAFI aims to address the pressing gap in physical facilities of mass-based Philippine public education.

“The program covers public elementary schools all over the Cebu province. It provides safer and more conducive learning facilities for children, and contribute to the improvement of the quality of education,” Dignadice added.

To date, SRP has repaired and rehabilitated a total of 624 classrooms in 188 schools in 35 towns in the province of Cebu.

“We are planning to upscale to 100 to 300 classrooms for the next three years,” he said. He hopes that congressional district representatives will allocate a bigger education fund, especially to poor local government units (LGUs).

In response to the K to 12 feature on the usage of mother tongue in kindergarten to Grade 3, RAFI partnered with the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) to help improve the quality of instruction of teachers handling classes in the mentioned levels.

Through the “Certificate Program on Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) for Public School Teachers”, 80 teachers from Cebu province will be given intensive training on the utilization of the MTB-MLE in the teaching-learning process.

Dulangon also shared that in the regional level, schools situated in urban areas will have an increase in enrolment. DepEd is preparing for this expected scenario for this school year. Programs like special education (SPED) for special children, Alternative Learning Center (ALS) for out of school youth, night elementary school, and open high school made it possible for children to attend school.

“We are all obligated to educate our children. These initiatives encourage our students and parents to go to school even if they are older, working, or with special needs. These things should not be a hindrance to have a good education,” Dulangon stressed.

HYPERLINK “http://rafi.org.ph/knowledge-sharing-advocacy/pagtuki/” Pagtuki is aired over dyLA 909 AM every Saturday at 10-11am. The program, which is one of the  HYPERLINK “http://rafi.org.ph/knowledge-sharing-advocacy/” Knowledge Sharing & Advocacy capabilities of RAFI, tackles timely and relevant issues on community development, politics and governance, micro-financing, education, environment, early childhood care and development, and culture and heritage that affect the Cebuano community.

For more information about RAFI’s radio program, please contact Chrisley Hinayas at 418-7234 loc. 540, or visit  HYPERLINK “http://www.rafi.org.ph” www.rafi.org.ph or  HYPERLINK “http://www.facebook.com/rafi.org.ph” www.facebook.com/rafi.org.ph, or follow @rafiorgph on Twitter.