Crisis, Bridge program may force more children out of school

BUTUAN CITY — The current economic crisis and the decision of the Department of Education (DepEd) to add another year in high school through the "Bridge Program" may force poor parents in the countryside to stop sending their children to school and require them to work instead, a current study made by a non-governmental organization here in Northeastern Mindanao showed.

Alternative Education and Development for Rural Mindanao (AlterEd) coordinator and spokesman Earl Vincent Del Valle told The STAR in an exclusive interview that poor parents in the rural areas and the urban poor may be affected by the decision of Dep Ed to implement the Bridge Program this school year.

"The implementation of the Bridge Program by Dep Ed is very untimely and ill-advised because it coincided with the surge in prices of basic commodities brought about by the crisis and another round of oil price increase," Del Valle said.

Del Valle noted that during the conduct of the High School Readiness Test in Butuan City and Agusan del Norte, only one or two students in 40 examinees passed the test, the rest got low scores and some even got only one answer correct.

Agusan del Norte Schools Division Superintendent Ponciano Joven admitted the low passing results of Caraga students in the first High School Readiness test.

The poor performance of students, he said, is a direct result of the dramatic reduction of government spending in education, which resulted in the shortage of teachers, classrooms and other key materials in public schools

Del Valle has urged teachers, students, parents, and concerned members of the community to form a "Movement for Quality Education" to ask government to take bold, immediate and effective measures to address the crisis in education.

Teachers of the different public schools in the Caraga Region are now undergoing a training seminar at a local convention center here for the implementation of the Bridge Program.

However, an added year will not raise the quality of education, Del Valle said.

"We call on the NEDA to immediately stop this program and admit all elementary graduates to high school. This is certainly not the program we need," Del Valle said.