LAGAWE, Ifugao- – It’s a kickoff activity like no other. Ifugao’s chosen kickoff institution for the Brigada Eskwela Program this year is Hingyon National High School which is ready for the opening of school year 2017-2018 next month.
The activity started with a caravan at the capital town of Lagawe. It ended up at the school site at barangay Northern Cababuyan.
Ifugao Department of Education (DepEd) officials, teachers, students, parents, municipal government officials, barangay council officials, guests and other stakeholders attended the program.
“Ever mindful of the challenges faced by those in the education sector, the men and women who took part in cleaning school premises and classrooms as well as other-related facilities for our students, surely have done a splendid job in advancing the objectives of the program,” Schools Division Superintendent Sally Ullalim said.
She also exhorted the participants to extend their helping hands in support of the other noteworthy DepEd programs, projects and activities.
For the uninitiated, the Brigada Eskwela seeks to enlist the time and energies of teachers, parents, pupils, students and others who are to attend to such chores as cutting grasses, cleaning classrooms and painting or sprucing up walls.
To fulfill this, public elementary and high schools likewise strive to tap the support and assistance of the private sector. In exercising this corporate social responsibility, privately-owned firms or companies donate paints, brushes, soaps and other materials. At most times, even food provisions are given by kind-hearted and generous business owners.
“All of us in this program want to create a better and more conducive learning environment for the young,” Ullalim stated in reference to the long-term goal of the program.
“It is not that easy. There are constraints or limitations at hand that tested our will to stay focused on our tasks, but remained strong and unaffected for the sake of our youngsters who put their trust and confidence to their mentors as their second parents,” she stressed.
So far as is known, Hingyon National High School is one of the major educational institutions in Ifugao.
The school’s enrollment in 2016 reached 180 students. There are two public high schools in Hingyon. The town has 15 public elementary schools spread out in 13 villages. There is no private high school in this predominantly agricultural town.
Hingyon National High School has seven teachers. Nine more are needed. Johnny Binwang is the prinicipal.
Understanding that the government itself is at fault for not providing sufficient funds to public schools despite the fact that it is the responsibility of the officialdom to allocate the biggest slice of the budget to education, many indeed held the view that the Brigada Eskwela oftentimes is a mere way of passing the burden to an already overburdened motley of parents who are mostly from the marginalized sector.
In this case, repairs of stages, windows, comfort rooms, armed chairs, dormitory posts as well as replacement of broken window panes and clearing of canals and pathways took place.
Program participants include Mayor Geraldo Luglug, Punong Barangay Herman Bumilac, Provincial Schools Division Supervisor (PSDS) Lorna Haclao and Joan Benoyaco and Arnel Dulnuan.
Likewise, mentors Delfin Bolla, Antonio Pacya, Andres Dogwaon, Leonardo Cacliong, Daniel Lagayan, Naty Quiros, Veronica Datong, Zeny Lubiton, Matchun Aclibon, Karen Buyuccan, Julian Abella, Moreno Guinbungan and Anthony Buada actively participated in the program.
eanwhile, Board Member James Frederick Dulnuan urged the national government to provide additional assistance for the Brigada Eskwela program.
Dulnuan described the clean-up component at various schools in Ifugao and elsewhere as essential to the school maintenance mechanism of the Brigada Eskwela.
For his part, Dulnuan vowed to pursue legislated actions at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan in answer to the growing needs and wants of the education sector. He is the chair of the Committee on Education and Public Information.
“The road to improving the standards of education in the province may not be easy as the needs of our teachers, pupils, students and stakeholders change. But at this point in time, our hardworking and dedicated teachers, principals and DepEd officials have definitely come of age thus, I am optimistic that they can hurdle any obstacle that the future may bring,” he underscored.
“It is so fortunate that Schools Division Superintendent Sally Ullalim is striving to ensure that our public schools are adequately and properly equipped so that young learners can be ensured of accessible, affordable, relevant and responsive education at all times.” Dulnuan motioned. **By Anthony A. Araos