The education department was able to institutionalize the annual conduct of the Brigada Eskwela to involve the public in the preparation of schools right in time for the opening of classes so that students will immediately start the learning process in the different public and private education institutions nationwide. In the past, the practice was that during the opening of classes, school officials, student, teachers and community residents clean the classrooms, school premises,, fix those that need to be fixed among others and regular classes only resume after all things have been put in place in a certain school. The said practice has been going on for several decades which result to the disruption of the concentration of pupils and students because they become playful at the start of classes and carry it over through the school year.
Under the Brigada Eskwela program, school officials, teachers, parents and interested community residents already start the work in the schools a week before the start of classes so that when the opening of classes will come, the students will no longer be compelled to do the cleaning and repair works of what had been damaged during the summer months because they will already start learning their lessons.
The conduct of the annual Brigada Eskwela in all schools nationwide has revived the ‘bayanihan spirit’ among the people because all those who attend the said activity do what they could do to help in addressing whatever problems that are present in the schools. Some of the volunteers even bring with them carpentry, cleaning and other tools so that work could be done the soonest because their sons and daughters are the ones who will benefit when all things in the schools are in place and what will be done is for the children to simply report to school to attend regular classes when classes open.
This year, the week-long Brigada Eskwela is scheduled on May 28 to June 1, 2018 while the opening of classes will be on June 4, 2018. Before the scheduled volunteer service to the schools, school officials already started farming out solicitations to local officials, corporate sponsors among others for them to generate the needed resources to be used in making sure that their schools will be ready in time for the opening of classes. On the other hand, parents who volunteer their services are now getting ready to render several days of work in the schools while others simply donate whatever available amount which the school will use in the numerous activities lined up for their school preparation activities.
To prevent the conduct of annual solicitations for the Brigada Eskwela, the local government apportioned a certain amount from the city’s Special Education Fund which will be equitably distributed to all public elementary and secondary schools to support their own activities for the week and to avoid burdening local officials with numerous solicitations for similar purposes. Other local governments were able to replicate the same because of similar problems on solicitations that have flooded their offices when Brigada Eskwela is fast approaching.
We commend the volunteers and community residents who religiously help in the implementation of Brigada Eskwela activities in their schools because it is their children that stand to benefit from a well prepared institution. We appreciate the people who render voluntary work without demanding for remuneration because it is in the practice of the ‘bayanihan spirit.’ WE urge more parents and guardians to join the community residents in the conduct of the various activities required to guarantee the readiness of public elementary and secondary schools for the opening of classes because their simple contributions count a lot. The mere presence of people in the schools doing different types of work means a lot for the school officials and teachers because the burden that is lodged in their shoulders will surely be lessened and that the time that they are supposed to clean their schools during class openings will no longer be done.
More importantly, the children will be provided with a decent learning environment beneficial in the enhancement of their learning’s in their classrooms.
We appeal to the school officials not to resort to solicitations for them to generate resources which they will use in the implementation of Brigada Eskwela activities. Let us spare our local officials from the heavy burden of having to contribute a certain amount of money just to make the activities successful. Let us empower parents and guardians to be the ones to contribute their available resources to better implement the activities that schools have prepared for the week-long event. |Let us also demand a little bit of their time, effort and resources in making our schools a better place to learn because it will be the quality of education of our children that is at stake. There should be active community participation to such kind of activity because we owe it to the schools where we came from. We will not be in our status today if not for the schools and the teachers that provided us the quality education that we had been longing for in the past that is why we must learn to repay for the benefit of the present and future generations of Filipinos.
