Great plans for Education

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The announcement by Secretary Amin Luistro of the Department of Education that there will be no more shortages in classrooms and teachers next schoolyear is a very welcome one, indeed.

For decades now, we have lamented year after year about the lack of classrooms, as well as adequately trained teachers to handle the education of the young whom we always like to refer to as “the hope of the Fatherland”, quoting our national hero, Jose Rizal.

We have also mourned, at the same time, the quality of education that our young people are getting, especially those who attend public schools in the hinterlands of our country. There, not only are classrooms, facilities and teachers lacking, it is also a known fact that some of the mentors do not give their full time and attention to their pupils, because they are more concerned with their “sidelines” that help them make ends meet for their families.

In his announcement, Luistro also said that this plan to meet the inadequacies in the educational system has the support and confirmation of the President. This, he said, will be backed by the proposed budget for education of P293.2 billion. Part of the amount, he also said, will go into the hiring of 61,000 new teachers and non-teaching personnel.

Also included in the improvements projected for the next schoolyear is the construction of decent sanitation facilities that should include the very basic need of constant water supply in all schools, wherever they may be located.

All these seem too good to be true, because we have heard of so many other grandiose plans for education before that remained just that – plans that never were realized.

However, as they say, Hope springs eternal in the human breast, and in the present leadership of both the country and the Education Department, it looks as if we have more reason to expect such dreams to come true.*