BAGUIO CITY – The city’s Special Education (SPED) Center will start to offer junior high school, particularly Grade VII, next year in order to effectively and efficiently address the special education needs of special children and persons with disabilities.
Education Acting Assistant Regional Director and concurrent City Schools Superintendent Francis Cesar Bringas said the opening of junior high school in the SPED Center can no longer catch up with the opening of classes because the City School board just approved the opening of Grade VII in the center last month.
“We have still available spaces within the SPED Center premises for the construction of Grade VII classrooms. SPED Center also has the teachers to cater to the junior high school needs of special children enrolled in the institution,” Bringas stressed.
He added it will be the education department that will bankroll the put up of the needed classrooms for junior high school in the SPED Center but the city government must pass the necessary resolution for the expansion of the basic education offered by SPED Center to junior high school.
According to him, there is a need for the offering of junior high school in the city’s SPED Center so that special children and person with disabilities who will be graduating from the school can pursue their higher degree of education through a curriculum designed for the purpose of catering to the needs of those with special learning needs.
Bringas cited there will be no problem for fast learners graduating from the SPED Center because they can just enrol in other private education institutions for their junior high school studies but what is important is for the government to be able to offer to children with special needs and persons with disabilities available option where to pursue their junior high school studies because they also deserve to be given appropriate education for them to be able to excel in their chosen professions in the future.
It was learned that the Davison of City Schools is currently preparing the project proposal for the expansion of the city’s SPED Center located along Military Cut-off in order to be able to offer junior high school, particularly Grade VII, next year so that the budget for such expansion could be included in the agency’s budget next year.
After the completion of the appropriate feasibility study, the proposal will be submitted to the city council for immediate endorsement for the consideration of the education department in the provision of the required resources to put up the needed classrooms, the purchase of the appropriate books and units of equipment needed by the enrolless of Grade VII in the school next year.
Earlier, the City School Board approved the request of the Division of city Schools for the expansion of the SPED Center so that it will be able to offer junior high school, specifically Grade VII, by next year in order to cater to the special education of children with special needs and persons with disabilities considering that it can only offer up to Grade VI for the meantime.
By Dexter A. See