The first day of classes for the school year 2018-2019 was generally peaceful and successful, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said Monday.
“Our assessment here”•and many have agreed”•is that it [the reopening of classes] was generally peaceful and successful because we prepared for it,” Briones said.
In other developments:
• Two lawmakers on Monday voiced concern over the perennial problems in the public education system aggravated by the “ill-planned and haphazardly” implemented Kindergarten to 12 years of basic education or K to 12, which they said had resulted in the alarming increase in the number of out-of-school youth.
Citing the 2016 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority, ACT Teachers Party-list Reps. Antonio Tinio and France Castro said 3.8 million or one in 10 children aged 16 to 24 were not in school.
“Most of them, or almost 3.3 million, are aged 16 to 24 years old who are supposed to be in senior high school or college level already. More than half or about 53 percent of them belong to the poorest families,” Tinio said.
• Senator Nancy Binay on Monday urged local government units to work closely with the Department of Trade and Industry to strictly monitor the prices of school supplies.
She said this was to prevent unscrupulous traders who may take advantage of the opening of classes in public schools on Monday to sell school supplies at much higher prices.
She said many students were yet to buy school supplies since they were still waiting for their parents to receive their pay.
Briones said her department had prepared for the opening of classes and had assessed the preparedness of schools since the last quarter of 2017.
More than 27 million students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 went back to public and private schools for the resumption of classes.
Earlier, Police Chief Oscar Albayalde said they had not received any reports on untoward incidents in any schools.
He also said they had put up police assistance desks in several schools.
The Department of Education activated an action center to receive and handle complaints. It provided the following numbers: 0919-4560027, 638-7529, 638-7530, 638-7531, and 635-9817. Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta