Students to be displaced

Students to be displaced

Philippine Daily Inquirer
June 16, 1997

This refers to the memorandum of agreement between the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) signed by Secretary Ricardo T. Gloria and Director Jose D. Lacson on March 21, 1997.

I am sure those who read the memorandum felt alarmed and perhaps share my apprehension that many of our grade school graduates will not be able to pursue their secondary or high school education in the future.

One of the "whereas" clauses of the memorandum explains why. It says: "Whereas, Item No. 19 of the Special Provisions of the 1997 General Appropriations Act provides that "the amounts appropriated for technical and vocational education and other related budgetary items shall be used to fund the implementation of RA 7796 creating the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority: provided, that the transfer of such schools with predominantly post-secondary enrollment, including qualified teachers and personnel, their proportionate share of the budget and other assets, shall be completed by March 31, 1997: provided, further, that the secondary school enrollment shall be gradually phased out by Tesda in consultation with DECS, over a five-year period..."

This should be the concern of local officials whose municipalities do not have secondary schools or national high schools to absorb their would-be displaced elementary graduates after five years.

The agreement also provides that the DECS shall "cause the establishment of replacement secondary schools, where necessary, that will absorb the student populace over a five-year period."

This is not to question the credibility of DECS, but DECS's recurrent problems every school year include the difficulty to construct the much-needed additional classrooms, repair of dilapidated school buildings, inadequacy of books and other instructional materials, due to funding constraints. Will DECS, after five years, be ready to establish high schools? I doubt it.

I solicited the views of students who learned of the unwelcome consequences of the memorandum. Some said, Siguro, mamumundok na lang kami. Tutal, magiging NPA (Neglected Populace of the Academe) na rin kami (Maybe we'll just go to the mountain. After all, we'll be NPAs."

Reginald B. Tamayo
member, Sangguniang Bayan
Aparri, Cagayan