When I was just on the campaign trail, I heard many stories from mothers, from the mountain barangays of Calabanga, who were devastated that their high school age children could not pursue their high school anymore because the nearest high school is very far from where they live. Some would walk for several hours just to reach school while others no longer dared because walking to and from school everyday was really not possible because of the distance. Except for habal-habals which were really expensive, there was no public transport that would bring them to school. Only those who had extra money for the habal-habals everyday (about P40/day) were able to send their children to school. I really felt it was important to bring a school nearer to the children. I asked Dep Ed to consider opening a High School in Bgy Burabod which was the most accessible for all the mountain barangays. After swiftly validating and confirming its utmost importance, Dep Ed agreed. The Barangay Council was able to solicit a parcel of land from the family of the incumbent Mayor. Last June, Burabod High School was declared open already. In its first year of operations, 137 students from the 6 mountain barangays enrolled. Because the decision to open came later than the budget season, Dep Ed wasnt able to include provisions yet for classrooms. With the Barangay Councils initiatives and help from the community, they were able to construct a makeshift 4-classroom building to house the surprisingly high enrollment turnout. The makeshift school building was so well made that it survived the onslaught of Typhoon Glenda. Asec Rey Laguda and I visited the campus last Thursday night with Punong Barangay Cabaltera. A lone teacher was waiting for us in the dark. A concrete 2-classroom building was already being constructed on one side. It is being funded by the DILGs Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Fund. We also have pending classroom requests from several private foundations and from Dep Ed itself. Asec Rey promised to send over computers and science laboratory equipment. Even in the dark, we felt the energy and the determination of everyone. Against seemingly insurmountable odds, we were able to start at something that will hopefully change many lives.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 13:54:23 +0000
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