Public school students to receive supplies

CEBU, Philippines — At least 120,000 students in different public schools in Cebu City will receive free school supplies from the city government.

As the classes officially opened last Monday, acting Cebu City Mayor Raymond Garcia said that it is “business as usual”.

He said they have long been preparing for the opening of school starting from the Local School Board, the Department of General Services, and traffic management.

He added, they have also prepared with the Cebu City Transportation Office as they expect massive traffic as students are expected to be traveling back and forth from school.

In line with this, Garcia also said that they will be giving out school supplies such as bags, pens, pencils, and books, among others to at least 120,000 students from various public schools.

“We will start this Friday (distribution),” said Garcia.

He added this will be charged to the 2023 budget, the procurement process of which was delayed resulting also in the delay of the release. Garcia also said they will be distributing the schools supplies for a month.

“It could have been given in 2023 opening of school but tungod kay nadugay procurement process and you know it’s 120,000 (students), ato sang warehouse, ang pag-deliver,” said Garcia.

It was reported that the Department of Education (DepEd) said the start of classes last Monday went smoothly all over the country.

Newly-seated DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara as of noon in the same day said 20,598,072 learners were recorded for school year 2024-2025.

Of the figure, the Education department said in a statement that a total of 11,301,108 learners are in elementary, 6,204,006 learners in junior high, 2,870,891 learners are in senior high, and 222,067 learners are under the Alternative Learning System. — (FREEMAN)