Batac holds 1st education summit

By Dominic B. dela Cruz

Staff reporter

Batac City—The Department of Education (DepEd) office in this city successfully conducted the first ever Education Summit held at the MMSU Teatro Ilocandia, Batac City on April 29, 2015 with the theme “Building Partnerships for Sustainable 21^st Century Education”.

The summit was attended by all teaching and non-teaching staffs and other stakeholders with Batac Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta serving as the keynote speaker.

The summit aims to tackle the reforms of the new basic education such as the K-12 program with the participation of all sectors and other concerns of DepEd as a whole.

The whole-day summit started with the superintendent’s report of city schools division superintendent Vilma Eda concerning the plans, programs and activities of the city DepEd of Batac.

Ms. Eda took the opportunity to report the poor result of the recently concluded NAT exam for high school students here as she expressed hopes that the result would serve as a lesson especially to the secondary school teachers to do their best to improve the result.

A plenary session was also conducted by DepEd Region I Legal Officer Atty. Floriemae L. Dangli who discussed the Child Protection Policy, Anti-Bullying Law and No Collection Policy.

Mr. Dangli discussed the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA No. 10627 otherwise known as the Anti-Bullying Act of 2013.

City legal consultant Atty. Jesus Nalupta Jr. also discussed the legalities of the federation of PTA. After which, questions and queries were entertained during the open forum.

In the afternoon, Mathematics and Senior High School Coordinator OIC-EPS Mrs. Nemalyn M. Ulep discussed the Senior High School Program.

In the Senior High School (SHS), there are four Core Subjects/Contextualized Track Subjects namely: Academic Track, Technical Livelihood Track, Sports Track and Arts and Design Track.

In the city of Batac, all the secondary schools have already their own each Track, Strand and Specializations.

The K to 12 program is composed of one year for Kindergarten, six years in the Elementary, four years in the Junior High School and two years in the Senior High School.

Stakeholder participation in schools were also presented by Barangay 27 Kagawad Ma. Donna M. Cabalar, Barangay 10-S Punong Barangay Joe Calapao and Magnuang Elementary School Head Teacher III Johnny C. Taliaoga.

BNHS Poblacion Campus Teacher I John Paul Viernes also presented the ICT Integration towards Accelerated Performance and Sustainable Education.    

Ilocos Norte Division Superintendent Ms. Araceli Pastor also discussed the Stakeholder, Linkages and Partnerships: A Must for a Sustainable 21^st Century Education.

The summit also recognized stakeholders who contributed most for the betterment of the City DepEd.

Ms. Eda thanked all the participants: teachers, PTCA, presidents of Student Government Organizations, barangay officials, city officials, business and industry sector representatives and all other stakeholders for attending the summit as this is the best venue to map out plans and programs of DepEd in the coming years.

Relative to K to 12 program, Ms. Eda said Batac is now ready for the said program.

MMSU President Dr. Miriam Pascua also congratulated the city DepEd division for a successful output of the education summit.

Ms. Pascua said that this serves the city DepEd and all stakeholders to help one another in building and improving the status of education in the new millennium.