GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/02 June) — Around 1.2 million learners or students in Region 12 are expected to troop to various public schools on Monday, June 5, for the opening of classes.
Dr. Arturo Bayocot, Department of Education (DepEd) Region 12 director, said Friday all 2,2,45 public elementary and high schools in the region are all prepared and will start with the formal classes as scheduled.
He said classes in Grades 1 to 11 will start on Monday but those for Grade 12 were rescheduled on June 13.
As in the previous school opening, he said they directed all schools to start with “lesson one on day one” of the classes.
“Our schools are now all set as most of the needed preparations were already completed,” Bayocot said.
The region comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and North Cotabato, and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.
Region 12, which has nine school divisions, has a total of 1,746 elementary and 499 secondary schools, including those offering senior high school programs.
For school year 2017-2018, DepEd-12 listed a project enrollment of 90,034 in kindergarten, 675,358 in elementary, 398,080 in secondary and 68,000 in senior high school.
These figures were based on the early registration held last January and initial enrollment data.
Enrollment is still ongoing in all public schools and would likely be extended until the end of the month, according to local school officials.
Bayocot said some minor problems might emerge during the opening of classes but noted that school principals and administrators have prepared some strategies to address them.
As to the usual lack of classrooms, he said a number of school building projects earlier implemented were already completed while some are still undergoing construction.
“For schools that lack classrooms, they are allowed to hold double shifts for their classes as a last recourse,” he said.
Among the schools that implemented double shifting of classes is the Koronadal National Comprehensive High School, which is one of the region’s biggest public high schools.
The first shift is from 6:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and the second from 12:30 to 6:15 p.m.
“We’re regularly monitoring the ongoing preparations in all our schools to ensure that the opening of classes would be smooth and orderly,” Bayocot added. (MindaNews)