EDITORIAL – Partners

As classes start to open next week, hundreds of public schools across Central Visayas are reportedly not yet ready for the coming school year owing to the lack of facilities as many of them still have construction works.

But Department of Education-7 Director Juliet Jeruta said these schools will start classes on June 4 despite the problem, which she describes as only involving minor deficiencies. She assured such setback will not affect the conduct of classes.

Well, it has been ordinary for schools to encounter various problems prior to opening of classes. Classrooms and the entire school for that matter need to be spruced up in order to look new as they will again play host to students for at least ten months.

However, schools cannot do all the rehab and beautification alone. They do not have the luxury of just immediately pumping resources into the program that includes the need to repair chairs and paint classrooms considering the lack of funds.

Good thing there is a program dedicated to refurbishing classrooms, among others, in time for the school opening. The Brigada Eskwela has been institutionalized as an opportunity for schools and local communities to be partners in rehabilitation of schools.

While Brigada Eskwela has been, for years, a vital program in the drive by education officials for schools to be closer to communities, more partnerships are needed between the government and the private sector if we want to achieve the best quality of education for our children.

The government and the education department cannot do all the play in the effort to give our children the best education possible considering the limited resources the annual national budget allocates to public schools across the country.

They need the active participation of communities -- the private sector in general -- for the success of programs raising the standard of education. The quality of learning that our children receive greatly depends upon how all stakeholders do their part.