Today is world environment day!

Today is World Environment Day (WED) as proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) in order to promote awareness of the problems we are having with the environment today, more so that the polar ice caps are already melting beyond its usual or historic boundaries. This is why today's slogan is about "Melting Ice" which focuses on the effects of climate change on the polar and ecosystems and its consequences around the world.

While the main international celebrations of the World Environment Day 2007 will be held in the City of Tromsø, Norway, which is hosting this United Nations day event, the main agenda is to focus on the effects that the melting ice polar caps would have with the rest of the world. WED was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

How do we celebrate WED? Do something on your own that you think can help clean up our environment. For instance, if you can stop using your car for today, that would certainly reduce the gas emissions we personally pollute into our fragile atmosphere. Turning off the air-conditioning in your house is another way.

That the polar ice caps are already melting is the reality we face today. Just a few months ago, I saw a BBC story, which revealed that the frozen tundra (frozen tundra is actually mud or earth turned into ice) in Siberia now feels like melted ice cream. The BBC reporter who went with the Russian scientists said that if the frozen tundra is melting, he was sure that the polar ice caps would also melt and this has now been validated. Can we stop this up and coming global disaster? I hope the whole world would realize that the presence of man and our current technology has only caused more global warming and could trigger the extinction of the human race! So don't say we didn't warn you.

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With the opening of classes in most of our schools we are getting mixed signals, which I believe should be properly addressed by the Department of Education (DepEd). If Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz is to be believed he pointed out, "This is going to be a banner year for Philippine Education. Our efforts are going to translate into meaningful improvements in the academic performance of millions of Filipino students who will troop to school today." Call this a DepEd propaganda if you wish but I can only hope that what Jesli Lapuz is saying will really come true.

But the reality on the ground is much different. If you ask me, Jesli Lapuz ought to tell this to the students and teachers of the Lahug Elementary School which recently figured in the row between Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Lahug Barangay Captain Mary Ann delos Santos. How can DepEd say that 2007 would be a banner year for education at the Lahug Elementary school (which is just a stone's throw away from the DepEd Regional Offices? No doubt the move by Mayor Osmeña is a very unpopular move but then Mayor Osmeña is no stranger to controversy.

But Mayor Tom has rammed home his point, that his administration has indeed done something for Barangay Lahug contrary to the political propaganda of Mary Ann delos Santos. But if he has to prove this point to the residents or constituents of Lahug, his stopping the construction of the school there is sending the wrong message. The education of our youth should be prioritized over political realities.

Sure, I fully agree that no longer giving gasoline allowances to the garbage trucks are something the Barangay Lahug residents ought to ponder. But I dare say that Mayor Tom can and should give the kids in Lahug a chance to a better future through education, which means fixing the old building and finishing the new structure. Lets keep our school kids away from ugly politics because there are just so many things wrong with our present educational system today.

Meanwhile, we ought to hear it from Dr. Jesus "Jess" Estanislao who spoke before the Cebu Business Club last Friday at the Casino Español wherein he pointed out the need for new standards in our education system. He suggested throwing out the old system where DepEd continues to crank out second-rate students where in all surveys we have become permanent fixtures at the bottom of the list against Asian schools. In the past the Philippines was the place where foreign students would come to study. Somehow we have been left behind by many other Asian nations. As Dr. Estanislao suggested, we should think out of the box and come up with a new and better educational plan for our school children. Now the question I would like to pose is whether the DepEd has installed such a plan?

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit's columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com