DepEd-7 director to retire next week

CEBU, Philippines — After serving around four years as Department of Education regional director in Central Visayas, Juliet Jeruta will be leaving her post next week.

Jeruta, 63, is set to retire effective June 30.

“I only have 10 days left to be with you,” she told private school administrators in a forum yesterday.

Jeruta described her four-year stint as a “very productive term.”

Among the highlights of her term are the institutionalization of giving a State of the School Address (SOSA) in Central Visayas and the integration of disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) in the basic education curriculum.

“I remember in 2015, the media asked me what my priority projects were. That time, the traces of Yolanda (2013) and Seniang (2014) were still visible especially in the devastated schools. The reason why we had to strengthen DRRM education,” she recalled.

Jeruta has served the Philippine government for 43 years already.

Of that period, four and a half years were spent in Central Visayas. This was her first assignment outside Western Visayas.

Before coming to Cebu, Jeruta finished a bachelor’s degree in education with specialization in home technology and worked for Applied Nutrition in Region 6.

In 2015, she was appointed as DepEd-7 officer-in-charge and in 2018 named as regional director.

Executive Director Rhodora Angela Ferrer of the Private Education Assistance Committee (PEAC) expressed gratitude to the service Jeruta has given to the country.

She said Jeruta’s loyalty, commitment and dedication to her work is a reminder that educators must continue to push forward and not be “fed up” with the challenges for the sake of the learners who are the future.

Moreover, an officer-in-charge will temporarily fill the vacated post.

Jeruta said Dr. Salustiano Jimenez will be the acting director.

A new director, she said, will be named January next year in time for the nationwide reshuffling of regional directors.

To her successor, she said, “The job is not yet finished. Adopt a perspective that we always raise the bar.”  (FREEMAN)