DepEd remains positive amid reported challenges in some public schools
By Roel Tibay
Published Jun 7, 2018 07:03 pm
By Merlina Hernando-Malipot
Despite reported challenges in some public schools, the Department of Education (DepEd) remains positive that the first week of classes this school year has been “peaceful and successful.”
(MANILA BULLETIN)
Education Secretary Leonor Briones continuously called on everyone to “help” the DepEd in allaying misconceptions about the education sector as emphasized that the so-called “usual problems are now unusual challenges.”
ENSURING NURTURING ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNERS
Briones spearheaded the opening of School Year (SY) 2018-2019 by personally visiting schools and ensuring that learners are “accommodated in a conducive, nurturing, safe, and motivating environment.”
Recognizing the preparations conducted by the DepEd – from the Central, down to the Regional and Division Offices, and the schools – Briones assured the public that the opening of classes has been generally “peaceful and successful.”
Briones also reiterated that the readiness of the entire Department to face another school year. “I would like to remind you that even if one percent is not ready, it does not mean that the entire educational system is not because we are ready,” she said in Filipino.
Meanwhile, Briones also urged the learners to focus on their studies because the “government – along with your parents, teachers, various groups, civil society organizations – is doing its best to make sure that your schooling will be orderly and exciting.”
RESPONDING TO CHALLENGES
One of the challenges that DepEd has to face on the first week of school opening is dealing with gaps in some basic education resources such as classrooms and other school facilities. In particular, some DepEd public schools in the National Capital Region (NCR) brace for such challenges which is mainly brought about by continuous migration and overpopulation.
This school opening, DepEd has to address the case of Bagong Diwa Elementary School (BDES) in Manila – wherein its 51-year-old building with 19 classrooms constructed by the local government – was recommended for condemnation based on the structural analysis conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
As a result JICA’s recommended, the approximately 1,057 Kindergarten to Grade 6 learners from the said school are being accommodated in the nearby Jacinto Zamora Elementary School (JZES) since February 2018. Briones noted that the move is also part of the DepEd’d mandate to “ensure the safety and well-being of learners.”
The BDES, Briones said, has already been declared for demolition because it is located in in a danger zone. “We cannot gamble with the children's safety,” she added. Given its spacious land area and facilities, JZES was able to lend its three–story, 20-classroom building to BDES learners while still maintaining the ideal class size.
JZES is said to be only some 500 meters away from BDES, and while they now share the same compound, the two schools also have their separate entrance/exit.
According to DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua, the construction of the new four–story, 24-classroom building at BDES will take about 225 days. “Demolition work will commence once the permit is issued, since the land is a property of the local government,” he said. “The target is that the construction shall be finished before the start of SY 2019-2020,” he added.
Meanwhile, Briones commended the DepEd NCR local officials for “handling challenges in an efficient manner.”
“We have two ways of looking at it: one way is to look at it as a crisis, as an example of bad management on the part of the DepEd, but you can also look at it as a way of meeting immediately challenges about space, about increased enrollment, about issues like climate change and all these things which are beyond the control of DepEd itself – it's how we respond to it,” Briones said.
Briones lauded the efforts of DepEd-NCR, led by OIC Regional Director Wilfredo Cabral, the Schools Division of Manila, led by Superintendent Jenilyn Rose Corpuz, and the principals of JZES and BDES, Agustin Baldicañas and Jocelyn Carlos, in ensuring that the learners are comfortable while the ideal classroom to learner ratio is being maintained.
“This is really a question of efficiency and maximum utilization of resources,” Briones said. “This is an example how we respond to challenges and issues, and still promote efficiency,” she ended.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
Education Secretary Leonor Briones continuously called on everyone to “help” the DepEd in allaying misconceptions about the education sector as emphasized that the so-called “usual problems are now unusual challenges.”
ENSURING NURTURING ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNERS
Briones spearheaded the opening of School Year (SY) 2018-2019 by personally visiting schools and ensuring that learners are “accommodated in a conducive, nurturing, safe, and motivating environment.”
Recognizing the preparations conducted by the DepEd – from the Central, down to the Regional and Division Offices, and the schools – Briones assured the public that the opening of classes has been generally “peaceful and successful.”
Briones also reiterated that the readiness of the entire Department to face another school year. “I would like to remind you that even if one percent is not ready, it does not mean that the entire educational system is not because we are ready,” she said in Filipino.
Meanwhile, Briones also urged the learners to focus on their studies because the “government – along with your parents, teachers, various groups, civil society organizations – is doing its best to make sure that your schooling will be orderly and exciting.”
RESPONDING TO CHALLENGES
One of the challenges that DepEd has to face on the first week of school opening is dealing with gaps in some basic education resources such as classrooms and other school facilities. In particular, some DepEd public schools in the National Capital Region (NCR) brace for such challenges which is mainly brought about by continuous migration and overpopulation.
This school opening, DepEd has to address the case of Bagong Diwa Elementary School (BDES) in Manila – wherein its 51-year-old building with 19 classrooms constructed by the local government – was recommended for condemnation based on the structural analysis conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
As a result JICA’s recommended, the approximately 1,057 Kindergarten to Grade 6 learners from the said school are being accommodated in the nearby Jacinto Zamora Elementary School (JZES) since February 2018. Briones noted that the move is also part of the DepEd’d mandate to “ensure the safety and well-being of learners.”
The BDES, Briones said, has already been declared for demolition because it is located in in a danger zone. “We cannot gamble with the children's safety,” she added. Given its spacious land area and facilities, JZES was able to lend its three–story, 20-classroom building to BDES learners while still maintaining the ideal class size.
JZES is said to be only some 500 meters away from BDES, and while they now share the same compound, the two schools also have their separate entrance/exit.
According to DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del Pascua, the construction of the new four–story, 24-classroom building at BDES will take about 225 days. “Demolition work will commence once the permit is issued, since the land is a property of the local government,” he said. “The target is that the construction shall be finished before the start of SY 2019-2020,” he added.
Meanwhile, Briones commended the DepEd NCR local officials for “handling challenges in an efficient manner.”
“We have two ways of looking at it: one way is to look at it as a crisis, as an example of bad management on the part of the DepEd, but you can also look at it as a way of meeting immediately challenges about space, about increased enrollment, about issues like climate change and all these things which are beyond the control of DepEd itself – it's how we respond to it,” Briones said.
Briones lauded the efforts of DepEd-NCR, led by OIC Regional Director Wilfredo Cabral, the Schools Division of Manila, led by Superintendent Jenilyn Rose Corpuz, and the principals of JZES and BDES, Agustin Baldicañas and Jocelyn Carlos, in ensuring that the learners are comfortable while the ideal classroom to learner ratio is being maintained.
“This is really a question of efficiency and maximum utilization of resources,” Briones said. “This is an example how we respond to challenges and issues, and still promote efficiency,” she ended.