DAVAO CITY – Teachers in some schools are now left with around two to three volunteer parents on the third day of Brigada Eskwela which opened nationwide last Monday.
Teachers and school administrators said there were more parents who participated in Brigada Eskwela last year than this year.
In Tacunan High School, parents who attended the Brigada Eskwela opening reached 60. On the second day, less than 50 parents volunteered service. Tacunan High School has 480 students for the current school year.
In Mintal Elementary School, 320 volunteers signed up on the first day, while only 277 attended the second day. They have 3,363 students this school year.
A teacher from Mintal Elementary School told Davao Today that they jokingly called it “Brigada Maestra” as they are the only ones left manning the preparations for their classrooms which will be used on June 1 as schools formally open.
The trend of decreasing parent’s voluntary service was partially blamed to the announcement made by the Department of Education that Brigada Eskwela is not compulsory.
Education Program Supervisor Engr. Luz Tan said last Friday that “although this (Brigada Eskwela) is a national project, taking part in the school repair and other maintenance work is not mandatory for parents to enable their children to be accommodated in the school.”
Tan said that parents and students “who are forced to join the program may report the case to the division.”
“Di na lang unta gi-broadcast kay para ang mga ginikanan wala makaingon nga “Ah dili bitaw na compulsory’ (They should not have announced it so that parents would not say ‘it’s not compulsory anyway’),” a teacher here said.
The teacher said some of her colleagues from other schools lamented the same issue of lesser parent’s participation for Brigada Eskwela.
Estrellita Villanueva, principal of Mintal Elementary School said another reason why parents could not attend Brigada Eskwela is “because they have work to do”.
Another principal, Epifania Villa of Kapitan Tomas Sr. Central Elementary School, said some parents opted to donate materials for cleaning and school repair.
A total of 1, 318 parents attended Kapitan Tomas’ Brigada opening on Monday, but attendance decreased to 197 parents on the second day. On the third day the number slightly increased to 225.
Villa said news reports about the non-compulsory Brigada “were not that announced” before compared last year and this year.
“Ngayon lang talaga parang lumalabas, so that is why we cannot hold the parents from saying ‘Ay pwede man pala na hindi kami pumunta doon’ (It is just now that the news about it keeps on cropping up so that is why we cannot hold the parents from saying ‘Ah, it’s okay that we do not attend’),” Villa told Davao Today in an interview Wednesday.
Villa said they tried their best to encourage parents to join Brigada as this would benefit their children.
In Magallanes Elementary School where there are around 6,000 students, 309 parents attended the opening of Brigada on Monday, while only 148 parents attended on the second day.
Teacher Leah Alegada, who is in-charge of consolidating the reports for Brigada Eskwela in Magallanes Elementary School, said the news reports could have presented the issue by “not using the right terms”.
Alegada said “volunteerism should have been encouraged” more.
Principal Evelyn Lawoglawog of Magallanes school said parents could have missed out the essence of volunteerism opting to donate materials than “volunteering their service”.
Lawoglawog said they also encourage parents saying they need service rather than materials. “We also emphasized that Brigada Eskwela is not a prerequisite for student’s enrollment,” Lawoglawog said.
She said they also did not lack information campaign to enjoin parents as they did “house-to-house” campaigns.
Lawoglawog also admitted that it would also be good if schools have their own utility workers. She, however, said DepEd’s budget will not suffice to provide for the maintenance of schools. (davaotoday.com)
