ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Three Mindanao regions have been commended by the Department of Education (DepEd) for submitting the most number of public high schools with “zero dropout rate” of students for School Year (SY) 2010-2011.
DepEd Region-9 Director Walter O. Albos said that a memorandum he received recently from Education Secretary Armin A. Luistro attributed the big number of secondary schools in the Southern Philippines with zero incidence of dropout to the intensified implementation of the agency’s five-year-old Dropout Reduction Program (DORP) in the country’s second biggest island region.
Albos said Luistro’s memorandum listed the Caraga Region or Region 13, led by Director Gloria Benigno, as having registered the biggest number of secondary schools – numbering 187 – with zero dropout rate among DepEd’s 17 regions.
Two other Mindanao regions – the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Western Mindanao or the Zamboanga Peninsula – landed in the top five with the former listing 99 and the latter 98 high schools with zero incidence of dropout to place third and fourth, respectively, in the national ranking, Albos added.
Albos said Luistro’s memorandum identified the other regions and their respective number of high schools with zero dropout rate as Eastern Visayas (Region 8) – with 127, Central Visayas (Region 7) – 87, Ilocos (Region 1) – 84, Cagayan Valley (Region 2) with 83, Central Mindanao (Region 12) – 60, Calabarzon (Region 4-A) with 60, Central Luzon (Region 3) – 56; Western Visayas (Region 6) – 41, Mimaropa (Region 4-B) with 35, Bicol (Region 5) – 41; Northern Mindanao (Region 10) – 42;Cordillera Administrative Region – 39, Southern Mindanao (Region 11) – 32, and the National Capital Region with 24.
He quoted Luistro as saying that, at present, close to 50,000 high school students have been saved from dropping out through various interventions under the DORP.
Luistro earlier explained that the education department adopted the DORP “to save students from dropping out of the rolls because of, among others, financial problems, peace and order issues, physical handicap, family and health concerns, even as the program offers a menu of alternative delivery modes that aim to keep students in school and finish their basic education.
While the Schools Initiated Interventions (SII), one of DORP features, is also effective since the school itself designs the kind of help a student needs according to his unique circumstances, Luistro said, adding that the SII has enabled schools to determine, based on interview, specific problems of students or the real causes for dropping out.
The DepEd chief explained that the DORP is effective because the alternative delivery mode for students who are at risk of dropping out (SARDO) is being tailored fit to meet the learner’s unique educational requirement.
He said DepEd records showed that the DORP has contributed to the reduction of high school dropout rate from 12.51 percent in SY 2005-2006 to 7.95 percent last SY, even as he noted that over 6,300 teachers and field school officials have been trained on the DORP project.
Meanwhile, seven-year-old Barachiel S. Muñoz topped the recent 2011 “Apoy, Bagyo, Kalamidad: Dibuhong Pambata” nationwide poster-making contest – Category A, for seven to nine years old – conducted recently by the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center (CDRC) at the Sining Kamalig in Quezon City.
Muñoz, a Baliwasan Central Elementary School Grade 2 pupil here, was the lone entry from Mindanao in his category.
He defeated six other national finalists in the competition, which was initially participated in by some 200 elementary artists from public and private schools in the country.
The champion kid artist received a cash prize, certificate of recognition, and a gift from the contest sponsors – Foundation for Philippine Environment and Diakonie Katastrophenhif.
In another development, high school principal Marcom F. Borongan of the San Pablo National High School Zamboanga del Sur emerged as the lone passer from Western Mindanao in the 2011 schools superintendent examination (also called Educational Management Test) conducted recently in Manila by the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) of DepEd.
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