TAGUM CITY鈥擠ozens of pupils at the gold-rich village of Mt. Diwalwal in Monkayo, Compostela Valley, had their class on Monday in the barangay (village) covered court, using dilapidated chairs and tattered blackboard.
The sorry state of education in Diwalwal is a stark contrast to the community鈥檚 reputation as the site of one of the richest gold deposits in the country.
Bright students are awarded a 10-gram real gold medal, even as school officials lament the dearth of books, teachers and classrooms.
鈥淲e really lack additional classrooms. To accommodate the influx of pupils, we鈥檝e been using the covered court as a huge school, catering to several sections,鈥� said Wilson Son, school administrator of the 530-pupil Mt. Diwalwal High School.
The classroom shortage became more evident as the Department of Education started on Monday the implementation of the K to 12 program, requiring more space and more teachers.
Representative Maricar Zamora-Apsay of Compostela Valley said she had earmarked funds for the construction of school houses in Diwalwal.
鈥淏ut the problem is local officials there could not find an area safe for building a school. We are still waiting. In the meantime, my office has been giving other forms of support for the education of our children in Diwalwal,鈥� Apsay said in an earlier interview.
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Rodolfo Boyles, village chief, said a 2-hectare area a kilometer or so away was being considered as the site of a new school.
He said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources鈥� Mines and Geosciences Bureau has conducted an inspection and found the area, dubbed as 鈥淎rea SM,鈥� safe from landslides during rain storms.
Despite the lack of facilities and teachers, Son said the opening of class in the village appeared to be 鈥渋n order鈥� and did not cause 鈥渟o many headaches.鈥�
鈥淧arents attended seminars we conducted for the new curriculum so they had an idea already on what to expect,鈥� Son said.
He said the school was also waiting for the new chairs and other fixtures reportedly coming from the provincial government and possible donations from outside the province. Frinston L. Lim, Inquirer Mindanao