THERE is excitement and nervousness among students and parents on the first day of classes in ‘Embo’ schools that used to be under Makati City, but now, they are under the jurisdiction of Taguig.
However, some of the parents were confused about what uniforms their children would wear, as well as their home address.
“It’s a bit confusing because we have a hard time explaining to the child what their address will be.’Mom where is my school? What is this? Why did they say this? Why Taguig? Why Makati?’ since they’re a transferee and we’re not issued a uniform, what should they wear?” according to Grace Caburao, Parent.
“It’s actually very confusing for the students because they don’t know if they should wear a uniform from Makati or Taguig,” according to Hope Zamora, Parent.
Teachers in ‘Embo’ schools not affected by tension between Taguig and Makati
Meanwhile, teachers said they were unaffected by the tensions between the two cities.
They said they are focused on the mandate of the Department of Education in providing quality education.
“We teachers are ready to serve the students. It doesn’t matter. Because we look into the goals of the Department of Education. We submit ourselves to the commitment of the department of education to provide quality basic education,” according to Dr. Cecilia San Jose, Principal, South Cembo Elem School.
“We are here to help both the city government of Makati and the city government of Taguig so that there will not be any problems,” according to Alixander Escote, Principal, Fort Bonifacio High School.
DepEd inspects situation in ‘Embo’ schools
Due to the tension between the cities of Makati and Taguig, DepEd has decided that the office of the secretary will first oversee the fourteen schools covered by the Supreme Court decision.
On Tuesday, DepEd inspected ‘Embo’ schools to ensure the smooth start of classes.
According to education Sec. Francis Bringas, they have not seen any ‘untoward incidents’ in the said schools.
DepEd asks parents not to compare school supplies and give more attention to children’s education
Meanwhile, Bringas asked parents not to compare the school supplies received from Taguig and Makati.
He said it is better just to guide the children in their studies.
“Let us spare our children from all these controversies and guide them on focusing on their studies. so whatever the materials and other learning equipment that come to them, it’s best to accept them and be thankful,” Asec. Francis Bringas, Deputy Spokesperson, Department of Education said.
Transition process in ‘Embo’ schools begin
So far, the transition process is underway for fourteen schools.
Part of the transition process is inventoring properties in the schools, which Bringas said is one of the challenges they are facing.
“Most of the challenges will be on properties. Whose property is this material, this facility. That’s why the inventory will really help in really establishing who own the property, the school, the equipment inside the school buildings and so on,” Bringas added.
DepEd hopes that a final transition plan will be formulated by next month.
DepEd says to early to say if there is a decrease in the number of students
Meanwhile, based on DepEd data, only 22.9 million students have been enrolled.
This is far from the expected enrollment outcome of more than 28 million students.
But, according to DepEd, it is too early to say if there was a drop in the number of students who enrolled this school year.
“Its early to say that we have decrease enrollment for this school year because as per history, as per trend in the past years, our final number of enrollment only comes in after two weeks because that is the time that the schools have completed the uploading of their enrollment data into our learner information system which is managed at the central office,” Bringas added.
CALABARZON registered the most students, with more than 3.4 million, followed by Central Luzon and Metro Manila.
