KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/6 June) – The opening of classes for public elementary and high schools in this city generally went smoothly although there were plenty who still enrolled during the last minute, a Department of Education (DepEd) official said.
Mario Madrero, DepEd city schools assistant division superintendent, criticized the parents who enrolled their children just today, saying they should have been sitting in the classrooms now and listening to their teachers already.
“The problem we encountered on the opening of classes in public schools was that we’ve monitored many parents still tagging their children to enroll,” he said.
Madrero said they hoped such scenario could have been eliminated with the imposition of a no-collection policy during the enrollment period weeks ago.
DepEd Order No. 41 series of 2011 stated that basic public education is free and that no collection of fees should be done in June and July.
The official noted the “brigada eskwela” or school brigade operation before the opening of classes was helpful in the smooth opening of school day.
Brigada Eskwela was a voluntary effort from parents to clean the classrooms and school premises so that students could immediately start studying. It was also participated in by government institutions like the army and the police.
The tack tries to avoid previous practices where students were made to clean their classroom or pull the grass during the school day opening.
As of noontime Monday, Madrero said that no untoward incidents involving the school opening were reported.
DepEd field personnel were to meet late Monday afternoon to assess the public school opening day, he said.
Supt. Jemuel Siason, acting city police director, said that police visibility was heightened in public schools, with 90 percent of the local police force out in the streets during the opening day.
He said the regional police office deployed another 30 policemen to the city to augment the security during the start of public school classes.
The military also helped the police in providing security to public school students and in maintaining order, Siason said. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)