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[av_heading heading=’EDITORIAL | Brigada Eskwela’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Wednesday, May 17, 2017
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THE ANNUAL Brigada Eskwela program recognizes the spirit of bayanihan among the school administration, the students and the community. It looks fine at first glance, even noble and ennobling. But wait a second, a careful analysis of the program actually exposes a sad fact – the government’s lack of budgetary priority for public schools.
The government heavily depends on its citizens for the preparation of our public schools for the coming school year. Every Brigada Eskwela, we see teachers and parents spend for paint and other cleaning materials. Lack of personnel to clean and maintain schools are caused by the removal of plantilla non-teaching positions in public schools due to the rationalization schemes during past administrations.
Teachers who are supposed to be resting during their paid vacation leave are made to participate in this program. It must be noted that per DepEd Rules, only three days service credit will be given for six days of service in Brigada. Moreover, the program must be strictly voluntary. Many teachers complain that they are not given the service credits they are entitled to for participating in the program.
This dire situation only proves that government is not fully funding for the needs of our public schools, through sufficient allotment of Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) of each and budget to hire enough non-teaching staff for cleaning and maintenance.
Brigada Eskwela is an outright admission of the lack of budget given to education, with teachers, parents and students being made to clean schools and pay for tables and chairs, electric fans, curtains, lockers, and other facilities. Seriously, it would take more than Brigada Eskwela to answer public school system deficiencies. Why not increase the MOOE to reflect the actual needs of each public school and to cater to every Filipino student? The government should ensure, too, that we have appropriate number of items for non-teaching and support staff.
The government should not take advantage of the Filipinos’ spirit of volunteerism. It should not pass its responsibility to fully provide for public schools to the parents, students and teachers. This is a good opportunity for the Budget and Education departments to reflect on the lack of budget as seen in the situation on the ground.
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