Exec questions DepEd’s seminars

CEBU, Philippines — Some local officials are now wary about the series of seminars and conferences the school heads and principals had attended with the Department of Education (DepEd).

Medellin Vice Mayor Juan Alfonso Lim said he noticed that DepEd officials, especially the principals, school heads and supervisors, are always in a seminar or conferences almost every week.

“Is this normal? Or as they say in government, tilokon ang budget para walay masobra nga mobalik sa panudlanan. Just saying,” said Lim.

As chairman of the committee on education of the Sangguniang Bayan of Medellin, Lim said he has to take a look at the issue.

Lim said some principals he had talked to are also complaining about the times that they have to attend these seminars and conferences that they cannot anymore watch over the administrative aspect of the schools they are assigned to.

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has agreed with Lim’s observation.

This prompted Lim to suggest to the governor that they should take a closer look at this.

“Maybe DepEd has so much money spending for seminars and conferences left and right, and I don't know if this has upgraded the quality of education in our schools,” Lim further said.

Most conferences, trainings and seminars reportedly occurred in the last quarter of every year to utilize the remaining budget allegedly for fear of the reduction of the DepEd’s allocation for the following year.

Several issues on the quality of education have already been tackled by the local officials.

The Provincial School Board (PSB) chaired by Garcia earlier passed a resolution prioritizing academics over out-of-school extra-curricular activities in schools.

Garcia said that participating in extra-curricular activities takes away from students and teachers the time that would have been spent for academics.

The PSB is also pushing to reinstitute English as basic medium of instruction in schools under the Cebu Provincial Division following report of the Philippines ranking last in Reading comprehension, Math, and Sciences in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Garcia also wants DepEd to stop the practice of promoting undeserving students to the next grade level which only encourages mediocrity.

The governor said she intends to bring up the issue in the next meeting of the PSB. (FREEMAN)