A Culion education

Rappler.com

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In Culion Island educators face more than the usual set of problems. But officials are looking for other ways to bring youth to the classrooms.

MANILA, Philippines – In Culion Island in Palawan, educators face more than the usual set of problems. But officials are looking for other ways to bring out of school youth to the classrooms.

Jee Geronimo reports.

Jenevieve Cacacha teaches here at the Lumbercamp Elementary School. Its the lone elementary school on De Carabao off Culion, Palawan.

She smiles nervously at her students. She’s a new teacher and it’s her first day. A resident of Magsaysay town, Jenevieve was sent to this land of the Tagbanua tribal group because there are no other willing teachers. For now, she shares her classroom with another teacher.

JENEVIEVE CACACHA
TEACHER, LUMBERCAMP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
We have to make a few adjustments. We have a shortage of teaching materials. We have to be resourceful because we are far from the town.

Jenevieve and her co-teachers are actually a little better off.

In some places in Palawan, it’s 1 teacher teaching 3 classes simultaneously. The lack of teachers, classrooms and textbooks is at the core the education problem in the Philippines.The government says it’s building more classrooms and has achieved a one-to-35 teacher-student ratio. But the challenges are more complex than that, especially in far-flung areas like Culion.

DepEd Regional Director Bettina Guinares says distance between islands is a major challenge.

DepEd already began building more school rooms in the islands. But Secretary Armin Luistro wants more creative solutions.

BR ARMIN LUISTRO
DEPED SECRETARY
Do we come up with dormitories? Do we need bicycles, or boats, so that students and teachers have access to the schools? Or maybe we should come up with long distance wifi and technology come up with solar panels so that the distance can be navigated without physically going from point A to point B. There will be no perfect solution, but we have to start this year, because the students are there, and they are out of school, and we’ll have to do something quick.

In two weeks, Jenevieve will have a classroom all to herself, thanks to the four new buildings donated by La Salle alumni.

Unique problems, unique solutions.
DEPED and Palawan education officials are trying to think out of the box to beat problems posed by mountains and seas aside from the shortage in teachers, rooms and books.

Jee Geronimo, Rappler, Palawan.

– Rappler.com


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