CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – It’s the summer vacation but weekends are busy for 50 principals and head teachers of 40 public elementary and high schools in this Pampanga capital city.
Edelita Lopez and her colleagues began attending the three-week “School Managers’ Enhancement Program” last week.
Designed and conducted by the Makati City-based Asian Institute of Management, it is the first of such training for school managers in this city.
San Fernando is the first Philippine city to have availed of this type of training in the last few years, Dr. Federico Macaranas, executive director of the AIM policy center, said.
The training’s targets are to run schools that are responsive to the needs of the students and to raise the quality of education.
“If we have prepared school leaders, we can have the best learners,” Dr, May Eclar, officer-in-charge superintendent of the city schools division here, said.
The training is held right at the Heroes Hall (city hall annex) for the convenience of the participants and to save on cost.
The city government trimmed down the training’s expenses to P3 million that, by far, is a “good investment in education,” Mayor Oscar Rodriguez said.
Macaranas said the modules, on the whole, help the school managers acquire skills “to analyze in a very scientific approach” the situation in their particular settings.
REASONS
Eclar took the cue from the results of the National Achievement Test (NAT).
The alarm bell sounded off when students obtained scores below the satisfactory level in the NAT that was done in school year 2007-2008.
Such being the case, San Fernando slid from ninth to the 16th ranking among the 17 divisions in Central Luzon, she said.
The division has managed to bring down the drop-out rate but the 7.29 percent in the elementary and 14 percent in high school were still relatively high.
Also, schools have developed varying levels of linkages with parents, communities and non-government organizations in mobilizing resources. The century-old Pampanga High School (PHS) is an exception, though, because the faculty, parents, alumni and civic groups have managed to turn it around.
“There’s limited competencies [in the basic management of schools]. Most of our principals started as teachers. We’re tapping more of their potentials…to improve the outcome or impact,” Eclar said.
The training, she said, is part of the ongoing efforts to upgrade the physical infrastructure and human resources in the local educational system.
San Fernando, a first-class city, runs 32 public primary schools, three regular high schools and five integrated schools (which offer primary and secondary education at the same time) for almost 33,000 elementary pupils and more than 14,000 high school students. The PHS has an enrolment of almost 10,000 students.
With 1,300 teachers whose salaries are funded by the Department of Education and 20 others supported by the Local School Board, Eclar said the ratio is now at one teacher for every 40 students on the average.
“Getting parents to support the schools through the Schools First Initiative had begun in the time of [Education] Secretary Butch Abad. But aside from financial assistance, parents should provide guidance to their children to sustain their interest in school,” Eclar said.
“This is not a problem but a challenge,” she said.
Lopez, 60 and a principal for 22 years, believed that external factors, mainly economic, affect the learning environment.
“Our teachers are good but they handle 50 to 60 students in a class. Half of the students come to school without having breakfast. Most of them don’t have pencils, notebooks, crayons, even uniforms,” said Lopez, also president of the Public Elementary Schools Principals in San Fernando.
GROUNDWORKS
Rodriguez said the establishments of integrated schools helped reduce the drop-out rates. Located right in the villages, students just walk to school, never spending on travel fare. Three more integrated schools will be opened in June.
The city government built 36 new school buildings in 2007 to decongest the classrooms.
It has started the alternative learning system last year to enable undergraduates of elementary and high school to obtain diplomas after 80 hours of schooling. More than 500 adults have graduated from this, with some enrolling in the special skills training program linked with the Tesda.
The night school, began in 2008, has enabled adult learners to acquire education as they work to fund their schooling.
A city college will be open this June for 1,000 enrollees. On a P33-million budget, the city government supports 8,000 college scholars. Summer jobs and training are given to 600 college students through a P6-million fund.
Rodriguez said these have all been possible after the city government improved the collection of real property taxes. One percent of that has raised P100 million last year for the Local School Board. The fund paid for the training of teachers, electricity and water in schools, purchases of books, tables and armchairs, and amortization of loans for the newly constructed schools. The LSB also gave additional allowance to teachers and principals who get monthly basic pay of P14,000 and P17,000, respectively.
Edelita Lopez and her colleagues began attending the three-week “School Managers’ Enhancement Program” last week.
Designed and conducted by the Makati City-based Asian Institute of Management, it is the first of such training for school managers in this city.
San Fernando is the first Philippine city to have availed of this type of training in the last few years, Dr. Federico Macaranas, executive director of the AIM policy center, said.
The training’s targets are to run schools that are responsive to the needs of the students and to raise the quality of education.
“If we have prepared school leaders, we can have the best learners,” Dr, May Eclar, officer-in-charge superintendent of the city schools division here, said.
The training is held right at the Heroes Hall (city hall annex) for the convenience of the participants and to save on cost.
The city government trimmed down the training’s expenses to P3 million that, by far, is a “good investment in education,” Mayor Oscar Rodriguez said.
Macaranas said the modules, on the whole, help the school managers acquire skills “to analyze in a very scientific approach” the situation in their particular settings.
REASONS
Eclar took the cue from the results of the National Achievement Test (NAT).
The alarm bell sounded off when students obtained scores below the satisfactory level in the NAT that was done in school year 2007-2008.
Such being the case, San Fernando slid from ninth to the 16th ranking among the 17 divisions in Central Luzon, she said.
The division has managed to bring down the drop-out rate but the 7.29 percent in the elementary and 14 percent in high school were still relatively high.
Also, schools have developed varying levels of linkages with parents, communities and non-government organizations in mobilizing resources. The century-old Pampanga High School (PHS) is an exception, though, because the faculty, parents, alumni and civic groups have managed to turn it around.
“There’s limited competencies [in the basic management of schools]. Most of our principals started as teachers. We’re tapping more of their potentials…to improve the outcome or impact,” Eclar said.
The training, she said, is part of the ongoing efforts to upgrade the physical infrastructure and human resources in the local educational system.
San Fernando, a first-class city, runs 32 public primary schools, three regular high schools and five integrated schools (which offer primary and secondary education at the same time) for almost 33,000 elementary pupils and more than 14,000 high school students. The PHS has an enrolment of almost 10,000 students.
With 1,300 teachers whose salaries are funded by the Department of Education and 20 others supported by the Local School Board, Eclar said the ratio is now at one teacher for every 40 students on the average.
“Getting parents to support the schools through the Schools First Initiative had begun in the time of [Education] Secretary Butch Abad. But aside from financial assistance, parents should provide guidance to their children to sustain their interest in school,” Eclar said.
“This is not a problem but a challenge,” she said.
Lopez, 60 and a principal for 22 years, believed that external factors, mainly economic, affect the learning environment.
“Our teachers are good but they handle 50 to 60 students in a class. Half of the students come to school without having breakfast. Most of them don’t have pencils, notebooks, crayons, even uniforms,” said Lopez, also president of the Public Elementary Schools Principals in San Fernando.
GROUNDWORKS
Rodriguez said the establishments of integrated schools helped reduce the drop-out rates. Located right in the villages, students just walk to school, never spending on travel fare. Three more integrated schools will be opened in June.
The city government built 36 new school buildings in 2007 to decongest the classrooms.
It has started the alternative learning system last year to enable undergraduates of elementary and high school to obtain diplomas after 80 hours of schooling. More than 500 adults have graduated from this, with some enrolling in the special skills training program linked with the Tesda.
The night school, began in 2008, has enabled adult learners to acquire education as they work to fund their schooling.
A city college will be open this June for 1,000 enrollees. On a P33-million budget, the city government supports 8,000 college scholars. Summer jobs and training are given to 600 college students through a P6-million fund.
Rodriguez said these have all been possible after the city government improved the collection of real property taxes. One percent of that has raised P100 million last year for the Local School Board. The fund paid for the training of teachers, electricity and water in schools, purchases of books, tables and armchairs, and amortization of loans for the newly constructed schools. The LSB also gave additional allowance to teachers and principals who get monthly basic pay of P14,000 and P17,000, respectively.
