Education more accessible to Capiceños
ROXAS CITY – Education has become more accessible to Capiceños, says the top official from the Department of Education here.
Dr. Eveleth Gamboa, Schools Division Superintendent of Capiz said that with the various reforms and government support for the improvement of the educational system in the country, all children could avail of quality standard education.
Gamboa disclosed that the continuous improvement of their National Achievement Test (NAT) implies that the government is on the right track in implementing reforms in the education system.
She said that the improvement in the school system is being backed up by infrastructure support to schools, particularly the construction and rehabilitation of school buildings and classrooms as well as the provision of instructional materials here.
Gamboa also said that while they are consistently hiring teachers every year, more teachers in Capiz are also undergoing teachers training to become more effective and efficient.
Meanwhile, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus revealed that various reforms in the country’s educational system by the Arroyo administration paved the way for the improvement in the results of the National Aptitude Test (NAT) from 43 percent in 2003 to 65 percent.
Lapus said that education got the biggest allotment in the National Appropriations Act every year during the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
According to him, President Arroyo has placed education among her administration’s top priorities and pursued aggressively various reforms while providing them increasingly large funding.
Earlier, President Arroyo stressed that education is the ticket to a better life.
She said that “nothing is more sacred or more valuable to enhancing the dignity of every Filipino than a good education.”
“No issue is more important to us than education,” she said, stressing that through education, every Filipino man, woman and child will be given an opportunity to “lift themselves up.”
In her State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Arroyo pointed out that the government has so far provided means and measures for the Filipino people to realize their dreams through education, which she referred to as a “great equalizer.”
Part of this, she said, is the P1.5 billion fund for 100,000 teachers’ training in English teaching, removal of miscellaneous fees in school expenses, removal of the requirement to wear school uniforms, and scholarships extended to 600,000 College and Post-Graduates.
In addition, the President revealed that the Presidential Task Force on Education has already envisioned a “Philippine Main Education Highway” to better our education system. (PIA/Jemin B. Guillermo)