DepEd sets 'Brigada Eskwela'

Manila, Philippines - Education Secretary Armin Luistro has scheduled the National Schools Maintenance Week, or “Brigada Eskwela,” on May 23 to 28.

The Brigada Eskwela is a yearly campaign by the Department of Education (DepEd) where the community and the private sector, along with parents of students, contribute to and participate in the cleaning and refurbishing of public schools in their areas.

Luistro had earlier set the opening of school year 2011 to 2012 on June 6.

Under DepEd Memorandum Order No. 28, the total number of school days would be 202, with the last day of school set on March 30, 2012.

Luistro also instructed all public school heads to ensure that at least 180 days of the 202 school days should be actual teaching-learning days.

“The 180 days shall represent the actual teaching-learning days which all schools shall strictly adhere to. The remaining 22 days of the total school days shall be utilized for national and local events and celebrations; national, division and regional achievement tests; contests/activities authorized by the regional and central offices; and class suspensions due to natural calamities and disasters,” Luistro said.

He said the school calendar is compulsory for public schools.

“Private schools may opt to deviate from this calendar provided they do not start classes earlier than the first Monday of June and not later than the first Monday of August as provided for in Republic Act No. 7797,” Luistro said.

He also gave the same order to private schools to make sure that at least 180 school days of their school year would be actual teaching-learning days.

In a recent press briefing to discuss the first phase of the implementation of the agency’s K (Kindergarten)+12 Basic Education Curriculum (BEC), which seeks to add two years to the current 10-year BEC (six years of elementary and four years of high school), Luistro bewailed the loss of many school days to unnecessary celebrations of various events or conduct of various competitions or contests.

DepEd figures place the number of public elementary schools at 38,351 and public high schools at 7,274 while private elementary schools number 7,084 and private high schools, 4,707.

Luistro also lauded the business sector, particularly the so-called “Magnificent Six,” for its pledges to help the government build 10,000 additional classrooms in the country in the next few years.

He said the government needs top executives and finance officers of Coca-Cola, Jollibee, Petron, PhilAm Life, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), and SM to be at the forefront of “Bayanihang Pampaaralan,” a private sector-led initiative aimed at building 10,000 additional classrooms within the next two years.

The Bayanihang Pampaaralan is a campaign of the reconstituted 57-75 Movement which is a collaboration of a consortium of the private sector, led by the League of Corporate Foundations and the Philippine Business for Social Progress.

Meanwhile, Luistro said the department has drastically reduced the amount of unliquidated cash advances totaling P1.6 billion as noted by the Office of the Ombudsman last year.

He said the DepEd has liquidated some P1.4 billion, for an 88 percent liquidation efficiency, and the achievement was a result of hard work by the agency’s accounting and audit staff.

Under Luistro, the DepEd has set a goal of implementing efficient financial housekeeping and transparent governance. – Rainier Allan Ronda, Jose Rodel Clapano