DepEd to close down high-risk schools

THE Education department (DepEd) said it would have to close down schools in areas of high security risk if kidnappings should continue despite looking at redeploying principals and teachers in affected areas.

“Temporarily, we might have to close down some schools since we don’t want to jeopardize our school officials. By January we will have a new listing and we will see kung paano magagampanan ang matuturo [how we will implement the curriculum],” Education Secretary Armin Luistro said, adding that the series of kidnappings is an issue of peace and order and not a war of religion.

“Ang gusto kasi nilang [abductors] magturo in the community are the natives. For us, it’s fine if they are qualified but in most cases, none of them are not [qualified],” he added.

The focus of the temporary suspension of classes will be directed on schools in Basilan and other vulnerable areas until new arrangements with local governments can be finalized by January next year.

“We are currently studying the redeployment of principals and teachers. But these are only temporary because we cannot remove effective educators out of risk to security. But at the same time, we also don’t want to put the lives of our educators in danger,” Luistro said.

However, he is not amenable to providing teachers and principals with guns as means of self-protection even with the continuing threats of abduction and violence in the community.

“The solution here is a close coordination with the local government units, particularly in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao [ARMM]. We cannot afford to have these abductions occur every month any longer,” Luistro said.

Celia Sosas, a principal from the Baas Elementary School in Basilan, was released on Tuesday after being kidnapped by unknown gunmen last month.

For its part, the Department of Interior and Local Government will come up with a long-term solution to the issues of security among affected areas in ARMM.

According to Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, there should also be a joint community effort adjacent to additional security measures being provided by the local authorities.

“The students are those who are most affected by these occurrences, so there should also be efforts from their community. With the right amount of support, we can secure the people there,” Robredo added. –Maria Nikka U. Garriga, Manila Times