By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
To me, the recent directive from the Department of Education (DepEd) to strip classrooms of all decorations is a perplexing display of misplaced priorities by Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio.
On paper, the supposed intention might be to create a focused learning environment for school children; however, looking back, she just did it to spite the Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC).
Before her order to “take down everything,” a wisecrack from the TDC gave a radio interview to chide Duterte-Carpio, saying she was vague in asking teachers to remove “unnecessary artwork, decorations, tarpaulin and posters” during the Brigada-Eskwela activity.
The next thing we see is Inday Sara on the six o’clock news, tearing down posters, educational materials, and practically anything and everything on the classroom walls of a school in Bansalan, Davao del Sur.
It gets worse because, this time, netizens called her out again for disregarding the value of visual aids in education, among them pictures on walls of distinguished Filipinos, to which her response was: “Past presidents and heroes wouldn’t mind being absent from classroom walls.”
If we take her stand seriously that classrooms should be bare to be clean, wouldn’t that be quite a myopic attempt at tidiness, overshadowing the real needs of students? After all, classrooms are not sterile exam halls but spaces meant to engage and inspire young minds. Educational posters and materials don’t hinder learning. They enhance it by making subjects relatable and engaging.
So this move comes across as a petty exercise even for VP Sara; however naive or spiteful anyone of us might think she is.
Snails on the runway
Last week, the Bangsamoro parliament members took a proactive stance, inspecting the Cotabato City Airport with a blend of anticipation and dismay. Why so? Well, they discovered that radio reports stating that the airport was reopening on August 18 were all just a hoax.
The truth is, it was not really the fake news that was disappointing, but rather the lackadaisical pace at which the private contractor, Gemma Construction Company, was moving on with the repairs of the runway.
Nine more weeks! That’s how long it will take before the people of the city can enjoy air travel and cargo deliveries in and out of Cotabato. What was supposed to be a resumption of operations by mid-August has dissolved into a distant mirage.
It has been an agonizing wait, particularly for the traders and the economy of Central Mindanao, whose aspirations to rise above the scourge of the pandemic continue to be held hostage by this seemingly interminable closure since July.
I wonder if the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has realized it did not employ worker ants to speed up the repairs but snails slithering along the runway.
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