Same old problems

With the opening of classes this week for the new schoolyear, our kids attending public schools were ushered in again by the same problems: lack of teachers, lack of books, lack of classrooms, etc. etc.

This situation may not be too evident in Dagupan City, but the problem exists. Only, we are better off than most barangay public schools in the province because our problems are not as glaring as what they have.

Until now, there are public schools in the province that hold some of their classes under the trees. Until now, there are still classes with more than 50 students. Until now, there are still classes where three students share one textbook.

As a result, the quality of our graduates suffers and the whole public school system takes the blame for this predicament.

We know that the government has been doing its best to improve the country’s public schools. In fact, the Department of Education has the lion’s share in the annual national budget. Even congressmen have joined the effort by allocating some of their so-called pork barrel to finance the construction of additional classrooms, purchase of books, etc. etc.

But despite all these, nothing seemed to have moved.

This may be because the task of rehabilitating our public schools is simply overwhelming that government effort is hardly felt. With a free elementary and high school education where no one may be refused admission, a public school is made to eat more than what it could chew, turning its problems from bad to worse.

While we recognize that public education is a right of every Filipino citizen, we believe that education authorities should now come up with a policy that would ensure quality education in every public school, without denying the right of an individual to education.

There has to be a policy that would effectively limit the number of students in each classroom to make it more conducive to learning. There has to be a policy that would send teachers to regular trainings. But most of all, corrupt education officials should now be weeded out of DepEd and sent to jail.

This move will be tough and difficult. But there has to be a solution somewhere. There has to be a solution that would benefit the students, the teachers, the school, and the country, in general.

We cannot go on producing graduates who are not ready to go to high school or to attend college. We cannot allow our public schools to deteriorate.

ENDNOTES: With the announcement that the rainy has officially begun, expect water-borne diseases to be here again. It was about at this time last year when hundreds of central Pangasinan residents were afflicted with gastro-intestinal ailments because they drank water from shallow wells. Health officials should now start sounding the alarm… Last Thursday, we had a new police provincial director: Supt. Allan Purisima, who took the helm from Supt. Mario San Diego, now the chief of staff at the Police Regional Office in Cagayan Valley.

QUICK QUOTE: The best things in life are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. -- Robert Louis Stevenson