Time to look beyond election
Inquirer Opinion/ Letters to the Editor
Last updated 01:48am (Mla time) 06/04/2007

MANILA, Philippines - The election is over but the many issues discussed during the campaign are far from resolved. Most are still focused on politics, and very few are taking action regarding another equally important, if not more important, concern—the opening of classes for school year 2007-2008.

What has been done to prepare our public schools? How about the problem of flooding that forces schools to cancel classes during heavy rains? How about the school in Taysan, Batangas where a teacher died during the election? Have the damaged classrooms been repaired? How about the family of the teacher? Her students?

It is true that the Department of Education’s Brigada Eskwela program has helped in preparing some public schools for the opening of classes. But a lot still remains to be done. We hope that the newly elected officials are marking this concern about schools No. 1 in their "To Do" list.

Newly elected officials should not hold their victory parties before they have made sure that at least all school buildings are ready for our children—meaning, safe, clean and cleared of election litter; that there are enough teachers on the first day of classes; that classes will not be canceled because of flooding.

We're still all excited to know who will win in the senatorial race. We are all still praying that there will be no dagdag-bawas. We all believe that if there are valid election protests, they should be acted on. But it's about time we looked beyond the election and faced other important issues such as education.

GAY MARIE M. FRANCISCO, via e-mail

‘No student should be refused enrolment’
Malaya online edition, June 4, 2007

INTERIOR Secretary Ronaldo V. Puno yesterday called on local chief executives to mobilize their school boards to ensure that no student is refused entry to any public school when classes open today.

About 20.5 million students in the elementary and high school levels, and 2.9 million in the collegiate level are expected to be back to school today.

Puno told provincial governors and city and municipal mayors also to mobilize their local price monitoring councils to keep in check the prices of school supplies and other educational materials.

Earlier, Puno directed the Bureau of Fire Protection to inspect dormitories and boarding houses for compliance with fire safety laws and standards.

The PNP was also directed to step up implementation of its police visibility program, particularly in the vicinities of schools to help the safety of students.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said a ferryboat station is expected to open today in time for the opening of classes.

The station, the fifth to ply Pasig river, is near the compound of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

The four other stations are in Escolta and Sta. Ana in Manila, Hulo in Mandaluyong City, and Guadalupe in Makati City.

The P25 ferry ride from the Escolta station to Guadalupe takes about 55 minutes, according to Beth Espino of the MMDA Planning Office.

Only four ferryboats, each with a capacity of 150 passengers, are in service. The MMDA plans to increase the number to 16 by next year and thus help decongest main thoroughfares and secondary roads in the metropolis. – Raymond Africa and Ashzel Hachero 

Education crisis deepens
DepEd gets into heart of systems breakdown
By Fernando del Mundo
Inquirer
Last updated 03:07am (Mla time) 06/04/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The official figures remain grim as some 20 million students troop back to classrooms on Monday at the opening of the new school year.

Out of 10 students entering Grade 1, six will complete the elementary course, four will get through high school and two will enter college, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).

“We do not know if the two who will enter college will get a degree or even a job,” says Alice Alafriz Pañares, deputy director of the DepEd’s National Educators Academy of the Philippines.

Problems bedeviling the Philippine education system had been festering for the past three decades before officials agreed they had reached a critical stage. The analogy is made of a frog placed in a kettle of water that is put to a boil. The frog will not know it is dying until it is too late.

Experts both in and out of government say there are no quick fixes to the nation’s education woes. A band-aid approach, which is essentially what’s in place, will not do.

“The situation remains dismal,” says former Education Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad. He says the tragedy is manifested in the very fundamental problems of access, a high dropout rate and a very low reading proficiency.

“Half of the country’s student population is not even in school,” he says.

Abad recalls a national test on reading given to about a million Grade 6 students in 2003. He says it showed that 99.4 percent of those who took the test were unprepared to enter high school.

An analysis of the data showed that the level of proficiency of the Grade 6 students was only at Grade 4. When examined further, it was discovered that these students could not follow instructions and could not understand the questions well.

For years, says Abad, teachers who did not wish to be accused of incompetence gave “wholesale” passing marks.

In 2002, the late Education Secretary Raul Roco implemented a new basic curriculum. A product of years of study, it whittled down 10 subjects taught in the public schools to five -- English, Science, Mathematics, Social Studies and Filipino.

Art, Music, History, Physical Education and Culture were crammed under Social Studies.

 -End-

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