Community urged to support Brigada Eskwela

The community, including the parents, barangay officials and concerned citizens are urged to help clean the schools in their areas, in preparation for the opening of classes.

Department of Education Asst. Regional Director Jesus Nieves said that the agency has been implementing the project Brigada Eskwela for the last few years to make the community aware and the teachers and supervisors themselves, that it is their joint responsibility to prepare the school premises and the classrooms ready for the pupils when they enter school in June.

Nieves said that before Brigada Eskwela was implemented, it had been a usual scenario that children are made to clean the school yard, its surrounding areas and the classrooms on the first day of school and the mornings after the opening.  This made the children uncomfortable and hardly ready to learn their lessons.

Nieves also said that Brigada Eskwela is part of the Arroyo administration's call for quality education  starting in the primary grades.

“There is budget of something like P10,000 pesos for each school for the Brigada Eskwela but the principal has to apply for this to get it,” ARD Nieves said.  He added that many school heads are not applying for it.

Nieves cited several schools in Western Visayas which have garnered awards for their ability to mobilize their community, parents foremost, on voluntary basis, to clean and beautify the schools before the opening of classes.

By mobilizing the community to volunteer for clean-up, the school heads are seeing to it that the pupils are not burdened with the task of cleaning the school and its premises, which are often hard, hazardous labor for them, and can result to disinterest in attending classes.  This can be particularly true, in far-flung, depressed areas, where pupils can even hardly have something to eat after laboring, Nieves further said.

The DepEd is monitoring the implementation of Brigada Eskwela as schools are about to open for School Year 2005-2006. (PIA/ESS)