Capitol’s educational program benefits over 50,000 learners

CEBU, Philippines — More than 50,000 learners across Cebu have received school supplies under the Cebu provincial government’s educational assistance program, recorded as of Wednesday, August 27.

The distribution, totalled to P57,751 is part of the province’s P372-million educational assistance package covering around 1.4 million learners from kindergarten to senior high school across Cebu.

Of the total beneficiaries so far, 15,119 are kindergarten pupils, 14,513 are Grade 1 learners, 11,498 are Grade 2 learners, 14,634 are Grade 3 learners and 1,987 are Grade 4 learners.

The figures come as the provincial government continues the rollout of its revised school supplies distribution program under the administration of Governor Pamela Baricuatro.

The province is distributing school supplies to municipalities and component cities in Cebu as part of its educational support program for learners.

Municipalities of Consolacion and Santa Fe were among the first local government units to receive the school supplies.

One of the major changes introduced this school year is the removal of photographs of politicians from the notebooks being distributed to students.

Provincial Local School Board focal person Christopher “Dong” Baricuatro said the change was made to keep the focus of the school materials on the learners and their education.

“Ang instructions ni Gov. Pam kay ang mga bata maka-concentrate sa ilang studies rather looking at pictures,” Baricuatro earlier said.

Under the revised design, the front cover of the notebooks carries only the official seal of the Province of Cebu, while the back cover contains educational references, including multiplication tables, numbers and geometric shapes.

Baricuatro said the change is also consistent with the governor’s position that government-funded programs should emphasize public service rather than individual personalities.

“Ang gusto ni Gov. Pam is to focus lang on the education and not on the personalities,” he said.

He said the school supplies are funded through the provincial budget, which comes from taxpayers, and should therefore be distributed to the public without political branding.

“Provincial budget ni siya gikan sa taxpayers’ money, so angay lang nga ihatag sa mga katawhan nga walay pili ug wala puy personalities,” Baricuatro said.

The contents of the school supply packages vary depending on the learners’ grade level.

For kindergarten pupils, the package includes crayons, pencils, rulers, school bags, a 350-milliliter tumbler and writing pads.

Grades 1 and 2 learners receive school bags, crayons, pencils, erasers, glue, rulers, writing notebooks and writing pads, while Grade 3 pupils receive the same items but with larger bags.

Grades 4 to 10 learners are provided with writing notebooks, intermediate-sized bags and plastic envelopes, along with 500-milliliter tumblers.

Senior high school students in Grades 11 and 12 receive plastic envelopes, writing pads, composition notebooks, ballpens and 500-milliliter stainless steel tumblers.

The Capitol is also using 17,000 notebooks left from the previous administration instead of discarding them. The notebooks previously carried photographs of former governor Gwendolyn Garcia and several provincial board members.

“Naay 17,000 notebooks ang nabilin sa past administration with the face of the former governor ug board members, so usik kaayo kung dili gamiton,” Baricuatro said.

Instead of throwing away the remaining notebooks, the provincial government covered the photographs with stickers bearing only the official provincial logo.

Additional spaces for the learner’s name, grade level and section were also added, while educational references were placed on the covers.

Baricuatro said the modification was also intended to comply with the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s anti-epal policy, which prohibits the use of names, images and slogans of public officials in government-funded projects. -  LPM (CEBU NEWS)