SCHOOL VISITS IN PAQUIBATO DISTRICT

Unpaved and rough roads. River crossing. Hours and hours of hiking over rocky mountains and muddy passages. These are what Team Mabel had to go through when they conducted school visitations in Paquibato District last March 12-13, 2007.

Notwithstanding the occasional rains during the two-day activity, Councilor Acosta, ten (10) of her staff and three (3) personnel from the Local School Board Unit of the Department Education paid visit to six (6) schools located in Barangays Colosas and Tapak.

On March 12, the group visited Surayan Elem. School, Panaga High School, Datu Libayao Elem. School, and Butay Elem. School, where they spent the night sleeping on the classrooms and in tents set up on the school grounds. The following day, the group spent a total of nine (9) hours backpacking in order to reach Labo Elem. School and Mangani Primary School, and in getting back to Sitio Butay where their vehicles are parked.

The school visits resulted to the following observations:

» All the school sites were taken from ancestral domain properties of the donees who are residents of the barangays.

» Majority of the schools have old, wooden and dilapidated classroom buildings and some of them needs additional classrooms to accommodate the ever increasing student enrollment.

» Nearly all the schools lack furniture and most of the students are using armchairs which are about to fall apart.

» Delivery of armchairs by suppliers to these distant schools is least prioritized because of the remoteness of the areas.

» There has been want of textbooks and workbooks for the students to use.

» A few of the teachers frequently absent themselves from school to go to downtown for seminars or to attend to personal errands, which leave the students, who had walked kilometers to reach the school, frustrated and dejected.

» A number of teachers appointed in these far-flung schools are not receiving the hardship post allowance due them.

On a light note, all the schools received school supplies, medals, sports equipment and medicines from the Office of Councilor Acosta.