Palace urges public to help ensure peaceful, orderly opening of classes

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — With 26 million students set to head to school on Monday (June 2), Malacañang sought the cooperation of all to make the opening of classes safe and orderly.

“We appeal to you all to maintain the spirit of bayanihan in the opening of classes. Let’s all help each other to ensure the safety of our students. Let’s coordinate with each other to ensure the proper and peaceful return to school of our children, siblings, relatives, neighbors and co-barangay residents,” Secretary Herminio Coloma said.

Speaking on government radio, Coloma said that the Philippine National Police (PNP) will implement a comprehensive program to ensure the proper and safe opening of classes on Monday.

These included the PNP ensuring the smooth flow of street traffic as well as its vigilance in preventing crimes such as those snatching or stealing cellphones and school items from students, he said.

Coloma also said the PNP has established police assistance desks in different cities and provinces.

Coloma also said the Department of Education (DepEd) has also made preparations for theopening of classes.

With a budget this year of P335.4 billion, the DepEd plans to build 43,183 new classrooms in 2014 to address the expected increase in the number of students as well as to prepare for the implementation of the K to 12 senior high school program, he said.

This year, the DepEd was also preparing for the first batch of the Junior High School that will start in 2016.

An additional 1.59 million new chairs will also be added in classrooms.

There will also be an additional 10 library hubs that will be built from the 213 library hubs now in the country.

Coloma added that the DepEd has been set to hire 33,194 teachers and 1,500 teaching-related staff members this year.

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