DepEd Koronadal Partners Work Up to Support School Opening
The Department of Education’s Koronadal City Division has gained support from several government agencies in line with this year’s opening of classes.
In a recent press conference, City Schools Division Superintendent Crispin A. Soliven, Jr., announced that the schools in Koronadal are all set for the return of face-to-face classes.
“One hundred percent, we are ready. All systems go for the opening of classes for the school year 2022–2023,” Soliven said.
He added that as part of the preparation for the school’s opening, they have successfully launched this year’s Brigada Eskwela, the partnership and the collective efforts of the parents, teachers, stakeholders, and other government agencies to create a safe learning environment for the learners and teachers. A series of teacher’s training and parent orientations were also conducted.
Soliven said they have recorded an overwhelming enrollment rate in different schools in Koronadal for this year.
“As of August 19, we already have 97.6% over last year’s enrollment. Meaning, we have 52,308 as against 53,597 last year. In private schools, we have 100% for every year level. With this overwhelming enrollment for this year, “this is an indication that everybody is excited, from the community, the learners, the parents, and all sectors,” the DepEd official said.
In terms of learning modality, Soliven explained that from August 22 to November 2, they were given the option to use different modalities such as blended or face-to-face. However, 80% of the schools in the city opt for face-to-face classes.
Koronadal City DepEd Curriculum Implementation Division Chief Prima Roullo, on the other hand, imparted about the agency’s literacy recovery plan for the learners and the teachers.
“We have met with school heads and teachers to talk about the literacy recovery plan, and part of the plan is to conduct a massive diagnostic test to identify the literacy gaps. Through this, we will know what intervention and remediation to undertake for the learners. However, we will not only focus on the literacy gaps but also on the psycho-social activities of the learners to know if they are having psychological issues. Those are the catch-up plans. “
As regards to the teachers, we already had a series of consultation meetings with the school heads and master teachers and continuous instructions were given through our group chats, ” Roullo added.
Soliven admitted that they were already expecting a learning loss after the two-year closure of the schools.
“As early as last year, we have already conceptualized the learning recovery plan because we have foreseen this wherein there will be learning loss. That’s why we are very proactive in identifying and getting all the profiles of the learners, especially the least learned competencies that need to be addressed. In fact, our best practices here were being copied by other divisions not only in region 12 but also in the entire country. “
On the other hand, Jonathan Enmanuel, the Focal Person on Education for the City Government of Koronadal, has announced the distribution of school supplies for elementary pupils and office supplies for teachers.
“We have distributed school supplies and for the coming week, we will be distributing more for the big schools. A total of 30,495 sets were given out of the 54,000 students. We have also distributed office supplies for our teachers, along with their respective tablets. So, on the part of the LGU, that is massive, so far, since the last time we provided 25,000 and now we included the kindergarten.”
In addition, the city government will also be distributing the three thousand pesos cash incentives for the teachers as per the approved Sangguniang Panlungsod Ordinance of the city.
As to the part of the health sector, OIC-City Health Officer Dr. Vincent Ende said that his team has already conducted an evaluation in different schools in the city. Based on their assessment, all prescribed health protocols were strictly followed by these schools.
As regards to the massive campaign of the Health Department for COVID-19 vaccination, Dr. Ende urged parents to avail of the Covid-19 vaccination program of the national government. He likewise encouraged them to have their children vaccinated and have booster shot too.
“We encourage parents to have themselves and their kids vaccinated as this is really a big help in fighting COVID infection.”
However, Soliven said despite DepEd Secretary and Vice President Sarah Duterte-Carpio’s pronouncement that COVID vaccination is not mandatory, they are still advocating and encouraging everyone to avail of these vaccines because the COVID pandemic isn’t over yet.
According to Soliven, per the records of the DepEd City Division, almost 98% of the teachers in Koronadal have already been vaccinated. He also assured that there will be no bullying among students who were not vaccinated, as no names will be divulged following the data privacy act.
Meanwhile, to maintain the order and safety of our students in the city, P/Lt. Col. Joedy Lito Guisinga, the Chief of Police of Koronadal PNP, stated that he has already prepared the security plan, the police deployment particularly in various schools, as well as conducted the dry run for the security operations to ensure the density of the flow of traffic in the main thoroughfares of the city during the school opening.
“We have already coordinated with different schools and universities. We have prepared a number of PNP personnel to be deployed, especially in the school area, and coordinated with the BPATs as well as the Lingkod Bayan advocacy support groups. With some level of coordination with the higher headquarters, they will be sending additional personnel also,” Guisinga said.
Guisinga acknowledged the continued trust and support of Koronadaleños in the PNP. He likewise assured the public that they would do everything to ensure their security and safety, especially during the opening of classes.
In closing, Soliven expressed his gratitude and appreciation to all their partner agencies; the private sectors; the parents; and other concerned line agencies that, in one way or another, extended their full support to the DepEd Koronadal City.