BAGUIO CITY– School opening in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) went smoothly and orderly on Monday (June 5) despite some problems in some schools, the Department of Education reported.
DepEd welcomed at least 236,000 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 in the different public and elementary schools all over the region on the first day of classes for School Year 2017-2018.
DepEd Undersecretary Alberto Muyot together with incoming DepEd-CAR Regional Director May Eclar and Assistant Regional Director Soraya Faculo led the school opening program at the Baguio City National Science High School in Irisan, the newest school facility in the city.
The DepEd officials welcomed the incoming Grade 12 to the largest stand-alone senior high school in the city which could accommodate more than 3000 students.
The new facility in Irisan is composed of a 4-storey 32classromm building sourced out from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and a 20-classroom school building from the DepEd. Another 20-classroom school building within the 2-hectare compound of the standalone senior high school is being finished to accommodate more students.
Muyot said that challenges for this school year include the implementation of the Senior High School with the full cycle of K to 12 program this year and lack of classrooms.
The DepEd and the Department of Public Works and Highways are already working to fast track the completion of the different school building projects even as the school year already started, Muyot said.
For the year 2017, Muyot said the DepEd has 32 percent budget increase from P410 billion to P543 B mostly for the infrastructure projects including more classrooms and other school facilities nationwide which is also the mandate of President Rodrigo Duterte under the “Build, Build, Build” program.
At the moment, DepEd is making all the necessary adjustments such as converting faculty or even principal’s offices into classrooms for the use of students for the meantime that they do not have classrooms, Eclara said.
To ensure the safety of students, the Police Regional Office and the different provincial and city police offices deployed personnel to the different schools in the region. Aside from police visibility, police officers also ensured smooth flow of traffic during the first day of classes.
DepEd-CAR is expecting at least 339,000 students for the school year 2017-2018 in both public and private schools in the region. **PIA CAR
