EDITORIAL - Brigada Eskwela

Since Monday until the end of the week, public elementary and high schools across the country are sprucing up their image in another annual mission in preparation for the opening of the new school year.

The Department of Education’s Brigada Eskwela has grown into a major pre-school year undertaking with the help of the private sector from what used to be a simple participation of parents of students.

For this year, as part of their corporate social responsibility, many companies have pooled their resources to donate school materials. They also send personnel to help repair classrooms and chairs, repaint walls, and do other works to beautify the school.

Even several government agencies took up the challenge to participate in the Brigada Eskwela. In Cebu City, the Police Regional Office-7 and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-7 held an information campaign on criminality and illegal drugs during the week-long event.

Of course, this kind of community participation in the Brigada Eskwela has already become a part of Filipino culture. Such bayanihan spirit, which is very much alive even during disasters, has made Filipinos known the world over.

However, after the Bridaga Eskwela, when all schools are already prepared for the new school year, it would then be back to reality for all of us. During the opening of classes we will come across an old familiar sight.

This sight – lack of classrooms, teachers and supplies, among others – would then compose the usual problem out to pester the country’s educational system for the rest of the school year. Unfortunately, this problem will recur in the next school year. In fact, it will never be solved until we have enough resources to improve the system.

Of course, the Brigada Eskwela is a testament to the undying participation of the private sector in government undertakings. In a Third World environment where government resources are limited, the community has a crucial role to play in nation-building.