Unending school woes

This is just the first week of classes in both public and private elementary and high schools all over the country. From various reports reaching the central office of the Department of Education (DepEd), nothing untoward has happened, only the usual problems and complaints that crop up every school opening.

Sadly, these are the same situations, especially for public schools, that arise year in and year out. They are the usual problems that DepEd officials are fully aware from one administration to the next. But given the scarce resources available to the education sector, only so much can be done to address the perennial shortage of classrooms and textbooks and renewed demands for salary increase for teachers.

Despite limited resources, the administration of President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III has boldly taken steps to implement the K to 12, or adding one more year from the present Grade 6 up to Grade 7. Under the leadership of DepEd Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, DepEd pilot-tested K to 12 two years ago in 30 or so out of 7,000 public high schools nationwide.

DepEd targets full implementation of K to 12 by next school year. So the last batch of graduates of fourth year students from public high schools will coincide with the end of term of President Aquino on June 30,2016.

By the same token, there would also be no enrollees in colleges and universities for freshmen, or those enrolling in first year college for school year 2016-2017.

Luistro earlier urged public and private colleges and universities that plan to offer programs for senior high school by 2016 to base their programs on the kind of jobs needed in their respective areas. The additional two years in high school will serve as a specialization period for students, whether in vocational skills, music, arts or sports.

As the former president of De la Salle University,  Bro. Armin recognizes the full impact of K to 12 to the entire educational system in the country. Given the continuing problems and the state of education in the Philippines, much more really needs to be done.

But this is not just the job of the government but everyone concerned seeking to improve, if not solve, the usual woes of students and teachers as well. This is shared to us by Elon Sison. She was reacting to my previous day’s column about “School opening blues.”

She introduced herself as a retired public school teacher. From her own account, she started teaching during the pre-martial law years in the country. She retired when the late Onofre Corpuz was then the Education Minister. The following is her email in its entirety, without editing it:

“Yes and Yes Marichu - the perennial school opening ‘BLUES’ have been here all these years. And why? When the DepEd has been furnished the Solution to the classroom shortage and Poor Student Performance all these years from the 1980’s.

“ Yes, Marichu, I can state with impunity and without fear of contradiction that WE, in Quirino High School in Project 3, Quezon City solved those twin problems without any help from the government, and listen to this, without APPROVAL from DepEd (in spite of documented Reports duly filed) about this SOLUTION: The 3-DAY WEEK Program.

“Attached is a description of this program and some materials relevant such as copies of letters to Secretary Jesli Lapuz (notice the date) and to Secretary Armin Luistro need I say more?

“Regarding the issue of Teacher’s Salaries. I was assigned by the PPSTA as their representative to the Senate to assist then Senator Eva Estrada Kalaw for the preparation of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers and its Salary Standardization, and as Secretary to the Quezon City Special Education Board (with funding from the additional 1 1/2% Real Estate Tax collected annually),

“I was able to have the Board (composed of the City Mayor, Treasurer, Auditor and Council Committee Chair) approve the giving of COST of LIVING and HARDSHIP monthly allowances to all teachers and personnel of Quezon City. So our teachers, of which I was their President, did NOT have to rally and march in the streets to get what they needed. Nationally, and locally, as their elected President, I did what had to be done without fanfare. But I never was given a promotion to the Superintendency even if I passed the C.S. Exam with high grades, because I had become ‘notorious’ in the sense that Teodoro Valencia in his ‘Over a Cup of Coffee’ exposed my concerns in his column especially about the exaction of various contributions from teachers and being reduced in their Performance Ratings without due process.

 â€œAnd, what more exposed the fat commissions the Director of Public Schools and his School Superintendents were getting from Publishers like VIBAL and Bustamante Press with every Requisition approved for the purchase of books for the schools. You can check the veracity of these disclosures, Marichu from the Commission On Appointments and from the Civil Service Commission. I am sure these documents are in their archives. It is unfortunate Hon. Secretary Onofre Corpuz has passed away. He knew about all I am saying personally, Rest in Peace, Sir!

“ Marichu, you can also ask your neighbor, Atty. Jose C. Sison, — A Law Each Day about me, an aging but still young in heart, Tita.”

Some of these problems she mentioned they encountered in the past were addressed by institutional reforms carried out through the years. What needs to be done is to sustain these reforms, especially to check against corruption that adds to, if not worsens the situation. 

Methinks, too, the problems of our country’s public education sector are not really unsolvable. It’s just a matter of the government prioritizing programs to implement the constitutional mandate of education-for-all. The seeming unending school woes should serve as challenge and keep on their toes our education officials.