DepEd-7 has new director

CEBU, Philippines - The new head of the Department of Education-7 has assumed office yesterday.

Taking on a new territory, Negros Occidental native Juliet Jeruta was warmly welcomed by her new family in Central Visayas.

Personally turning over the key of responsibility was outgoing regional director Carmelita Dulangon who assured Jeruta that her previous and present assignments are “neighbors” and are therefore friends.

“Cebuanos are not difficult to love. It will not be hard for her to adjust. I wish for her to succeed in leading the regional education office. As I told her the resources are all available here, we have God’s best workers around... Ang ako lang nga ma-maintain nato ang atong nasugdan nga walay corruption. We have set a standard of honest work in what we do,” Dulangon yesterday told reporters.

Dulangon has already reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 and has formally stepped down last December.

Albeit admission that she did not expect that she will leave her comfort zone in her home province of Negros Occidental, Jeruta embraced this positive change in her career.

At 59, Jeruta said that perhaps the reason why she was transferred to Central Visayas years before her retirement is for her to explore Cebu and the neighboring provinces which are known for its tourism and the warm hospitality of the people.

“I am still in the familiarization stage. I will be studying the statistics and profile of the region to set priorities. But based on the presentation, there is a need to address dropouts especially on secondary level in both private and public. Sayang, kasi andun na sila sa school,” the new regional director said.

For school year 2013 to 2014, there were a total of 14,124 public elementary pupils who dropped out while there are 1,800 from private schools in the region.

Immediate solutions that she has thought of in order to address this include zeroing in on the home and economic factors as reasons for dropping from school.

Home factor pertains to looking into the parental attitude towards sending their children to school while the financial capability of the parents’ will be alleviated so that students won’t have to suffer and stop from attending school.

Also, she intends to introduce a stop-gap measure for those missing school due to calamities.

This summer, a group of teachers will be trained to create modules for students to use to make up for absences while still complying with the mandated learning under the curriculum.

Meanwhile, Jeruta announced that in view of the recent typhoons that hit the region, the holding of CVRAA has been postponed to third week of February.

The Cebu provincial meet, which was earlier postponed due to typhoon Ruby, will be held either end of January or early February.— (FREEMAN)