Authorities: School opening peaceful Vice President Sara turns over new classrooms

CEBU, Philippines — Vice President and Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte greeted yesterday's opening of classes by leading the turnover of eight classrooms in Cebu.

This as DepEd-7 Director Salustiano Jimenez said the public schools' opening was peaceful and fun-filled, with the children being overall excited to go back to school.

The Police Regional Office-7, too, said the school opening was smooth and peaceful, with no untoward incident recorded.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, PRO-7 spokesperson, said they only noted heavy traffic, which he said is normal due to vehicles bringing children to school.

He said, though, that policemen are deployed to help monitor traffic flow.

On the number of enrollees, Jimenez said around 1.8 million school children in Central Visayas flocked to their respective schools yesterday, as he continued to urge parents or guardians to enroll their kids.

His office expects the number to grow to as many as 2.2 million, as there are still late enrollees.

As of yesterday, around 23 million students nationwide have enrolled in public and private schools and local and state universities and colleges.

As for the vice president, she led the turnover of a four-classroom school building in Kaluangan 1 Primary School in the midwest Cebu town of Asturias, where she also distributed school supplies to the 56 schoolchildren.

Duterte, spent two hours in the far-flung school, as she had fun reading along for the kids.

The school is part of DepEd's 15 "last mile schools," or those located in very far places, in the Visayas that would be inaugurated during the 2023-2024 school year.

The other last mile schools are in Bohol; Ormoc City, Leyte; Talisay City, Cebu; Baybay City, Leyte; Maasin City, Southern Leyte; Danao City, Cebu; and in Negros Occidental.

Focus on teaching

In a speech, Duterte urged teachers to focus on teaching the students instead of getting busy with activities initiated by the local government units.

She said that under the Marcos administration, DepEd is following two tracks, with one being the "traditional," wherein the priority involves the classrooms and the teachers.

The second track, on the other hand, focuses on the performance of the schoolchildren inside the classroom through blended learning, as well as the future of education, which would include artificial intelligence.

Maricel Laguna, the teacher in charge of Kaluangan 1 Primary School, said that they have been using a makeshift classroom in the last 20 years and would have been still doing so if not for the last mile school project

From Asturias, Duterte then proceeded to Melecio Tito Elementary School in Barangay Oguis, Danao City, the hometown of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, to turn over another last mile school building.

The vice president was accompanied by Danao City Mayor Mix Durano and Oguis barangay officials during the turnover ceremony.

“Ang Danao City Government, ubos sa Lideratong Durano, kanunay’ng suportado ang edukasyon. Gani, aron makatabang aron mapun-an og dugang classrooms, adunay 23 classrooms ang gipatukod sa LGU sa 11 barangays og mikabat og 20.8 Million Pesos gikan sa allocated 31.7 Million Pesos Special Education Fund nga gigahin sa City alang sa edukasyon,” the City said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos urged the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to ramp up surprise inspections against school supply vendors who inflate their prices.

In a statement, she said vendors would be taking advantage of the first week of classes, when students and teachers are rushing to complete their school supplies and have no more time to haggle.

“Iniisnab ng mga tindera ang price guide ng DTI," she said referring to the government agency's “Gabay sa Pamimili ng School Supplies sa 2023”.

The senator said parents have complained that they couldn't do anything even if they confronted the vendors with DTI's price guide.

“Klaro na mas kailangang tutukan pa," she said.

In terms of security, Pelare said they set up 600 Police Assistance Desks (PADS) in schools and deployed more than 2,000 policemen throughout Central Visayas yesterday.

He said the chief of the respective police stations would also attend the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meetings DepEd can expect security provided by PRO-7.

“Ang amoa ani we are going to be consistent with our deployment sa atoang mga eskwelahan. In fact, the instruction of our (PRO-7 regional director is for the ground commanders, ang mga chief of police to personally visit the schools and to attend the Parents Teachers Association meeting para mapaabot pud sa Police Regional Office-7 ang atong mga security measures nga gipanghimo," Pelare said.

" Unya importante sad kaayo nga ma-convince nato ang atong mga ginikanan ug mga estudyante nga sila mismo magbantay during opening of classes,” he added.

Brigadier General Anthony Aberin, PRO-7 director, told his men to guard the schools morning and night to protect the students and to prevent them from getting involved in wrongdoings.

“Mao ng gi-require sa atong regional director ang atoang mga unit commanders to attend PTA meetings and to visit principals para ma-remind kining atong mga parents...nga ang ilang mga anak should not belong to these groups nga possible makahimo nilang dili maayong estudyante,” Pelare said.

He also said that the Police Community Relations Officers would also sit in the classes to give a short talk on the dangers of joining groups, as well as to provide safety tips to the students safety tips. — (FREEMAN)