To Update and Improve Skills: Retraining program for city teachers

CEBU, Philippines - Selected public school teachers in the city will be undergoing a retraining program in preparation for the school year that starts this June.

This was bared by Councilor Gerardo Carrillo, chairman of the city council Committee on Education.

Carrillo said that the program aims to enhance the knowledge of the teachers in their field and be able to use it in their classes.

He said that teachers, particularly those handling the basic subjects such as math and science, will be going through the program.

“This is to hone their skills and the teachers need to be updated on the things they teach,” said Carrillo.

The program though does not mean that the teachers are not efficient, but aims to give them more insights and training, he clarified.

According to him, the retraining program will help in strengthening the current programs in schools that will elevate the quality of education.

Also it aims to help in producing more successful and well-trained students.

The exact number of teachers that would undergo training has been mentioned, but Carrillo said that they will be selected by the school superintendent.

The program will run for the whole school break and will be done by batch.

Carrillo said that this is not something new and has been on going even before he became chairman of his committee.

He explained that this is the city’s way of improving the skills of the teachers.

Students in Cebu schools fared poorly in the National Achievement Test in previous years, which has encouraged both local government and the Department of Education officials to work harder.

No New Teachers

Carrillo said that there is not much need of new teachers in the city for the coming school year considering that the number of enrollees last school year decreased.

He said that the current number of teachers is still enough to for the number of students, who will be enrolling.

Carrillo said that what the city will be doing is just to enhance the capabilities of the teachers through the retraining program.

Meanwhile, Carrillo said that the city will be building more classrooms this year.

The councilor said that aside from improving the infrastructure and the skills of the teachers, his committee is also looking into other aspects of the educational system including security.

Among the things he is looking at is the implementation of an ID system for the parents and guardians.

This shall hopefully prevent a repeat of the incident last month when a child was taken from the Mambaling Elementary School, by a woman, who was not related to her.

Luckily, the child was released to her mother unharmed a few days later. —/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)