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DepEd: More than 100 schools in Negros Oriental ‘not yet ready’ for start of classes
DUMAGUETE CITY— The opening of classes is less than a week away but more than a hundred public elementary and high schools all over Negros Oriental are apparently still not fully prepared for it, according to a local Department of Education (DepEd) official.
These schools are mostly located in the hinterland barangays of this central Visayan province, DepEd Negros Oriental Schools Division Superintendent Wilfreda Bongalos told GMA News Online during the launch of the agency's Brigada Eskwela program on Monday.
As of posting time, these schools are being closely monitored and Bongalos assured the public that they are expected to become operational once renovation and maintenance work through the Brigada Eskwela is completed.
"There are schools (in Negros Oriental) that are not yet ready. But we will ensure that all of our schools will be ready. Kami sa Division Office, we will do the monitoring (of the schools). We will see to it that no school is left behind," she added.
However, the DepEd provincial chief declined to disclose the exact number of schools reportedly "unprepared" for the opening of classes, as her office has yet to check these schools.
Bongalos personally opened the nationwide Brigada Eskwela program in the province Monday at the Boloc-Boloc Elementary School in Sibulan town.
She added that the provincial DepEd chose the said school to launch Brigada Eskwela as it is a "performing school," and could hopefully set an example to other learning institutions in the province.
The program, which will last until Friday, is a voluntary initiative where students, teachers, parents and other members of the community repair and clean up classrooms and public schools in preparation for the opening of classes.
This is Bongalos' first Brigada Eskwela in Negros Oriental since she became the province's DepEd chief last April, replacing Salustiano Jimenez, who is now with the agency's Region 7 office.
More enrollees
More than 180,000 students are set to march to the 536 elementary and high schools in Negros Oriental next Monday, Bongalos told GMA News Online in a phone interview, adding that enrollment in the province is expected to increase this year compared to the number of students on School Year 2017-2018.
Of the estimated number, around 120,000 are kindergarten and elementary students, 52,000 are set to enter junior high school, and 9,000 belong to the senior high school level.
While schools outside Dumaguete City have yet to be fully prepared for school opening, all 25 public elementary and high schools in the provincial capital are expected to be ready for June 4, Jaymar Umbac of the Dumaguete City DepEd's Schools Governance and Operations Division (SGOD) said.
"Usually gyud, prepared na gyud tanang schools sa Dumaguete. Mag-Brigada Eskwela pud mi karon para mas ma-prepare ang atong mga schools para sa June 4," he said.
[Usually, all schools in Dumaguete are already prepared. We hold the Brigada Eskwela every year so we can further prepare our schools on June 4.]
Tuition hike
Meanwhile, Umbac said two private institutions in Dumaguete City have applied for an increase in tuition and other fees, which have yet to be approved by the DepEd's Regional Office-7 in Cebu City.
The two schools are St. Paul University Dumaguete (SPUD) and Foundation University (FU), which submitted applications last April.
SPUD requested for the increase in its miscellaneous fees, which include fees for athletics, culture, and a subsidy for "conducive learning."
FU, on the other hand, is applying for a hike in both its tuition and miscellaneous fees, The university has been requesting a hike since last year, Umbac said.
Umbac also noted that the expected tuition hike is only applicable to the kindergarten, elementary, and high school levels of the two universities. — MDM, GMA News
