Brigada Eskwela kicks-off today

CEBU, Philippines - With just a few days before the opening of classes, various stakeholders will troop to schools starting today for the weeklong cleanup and repair of school buildings and classrooms.

Dubbed as the "Brigada Eskwela" or also known as National Schools Maintenance Week, the annual week-long activity aims to cleanup classrooms and beautify the other premises of the school to provide students with a conducive learning environment.

This year's theme is "Tayo Para sa Paaralang Ligtas, Maayos at Handa Mula Kindergarten Hanggang Senior High School."

All employees of the Department of Education are encouraged to participate in the activities, as well as share their skills, time and their support to all public schools near their residence.

Further, all education stakeholders shall also participate and contribute time, effort and resources to this schools' maintenance effort in safeguarding the schools' facility to be ready in June, as cited by DepEd Memorandum No. 35 s.2016.   Parents of students will also have their particular assignments during the Brigada Eskwela.

DepEd-7 regional director, Julieta Jeruta, hopes everyone involved in the Brigada Eskwela will demonstrate unity and will show support for the children's education.

"To foster unity and concept sa pagtulong-tulong. Kahit anong sector ka pa, dapat e-prioritize ang edukasyon ng mga bata," she said.

The DepEd memorandum also states that "On May 30,  regional offices and schools division offices shall hold a caravan to launch the first day of Brigada Eskwela."

According to Jeruta, the different school divisions can start the activity with their own set of programs.

"Gusto namin na kanya-kanyang istilo ng pang-unang gawain," she said.

She added that each division already has a set of activities to be done every day in the week-long activity. These include dental missions, environmental activities and clean-ups, anti-dengue campaign and checking of surroundings to ensure the student's safety.

She also shared that apart from the Brigada Eskwela, the school heads, along with the faculty members are all set for the school year 2016-2017.

"Ready na ang mga teachers for tomorrow, ready na rin ang mga instructional materials nila sa first four weeks ng klase, ready na ang lesson plan and ang mga lessons. Kumbaga pagka pasok nila sa June 13, magkaklase na sila agad," she said.

On June 4, the regional office will conduct a culmination of the Brigada Eskwela 2016 in Bantayan Island, where teachers in the whole island will participate in an Art Workshop so they can incorporate art in their lessons.

Also, around 50 selected students belonging to low income families will be participating in a recycling workshop which can help them and their families. These children will also receive school supplies and will be supported for their education. — (FREEMAN)