Kadamay settlers say kids not welcome in Pandi schools

STUDY TIME Children of Kadamay members spend their spare time reading their textbooks as their families settle in a government housing site in Pandi town, Bulacan province. —JOAN BONDOC

BALAGTAS, BULACAN—Members of the urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) on Monday said their children were refused enrolment in schools in Pandi town in Bulacan province, where they forcibly occupied 6,000 idle low-cost government houses in March.

Refusing the children access to education was “inhumane,” Leah Maralit, Kadamay Bulacan chapter president, said during a protest rally held by 1,000 members in front of the National Housing Authority (NHA) satellite office here.

Vincent Gabiola, 35, a Kadamay member, said his son was rejected by Mapulang Lupa Elementary School.

The boy should have been in Grade 3 in the coming school term that starts on June 5, he said.

“The teachers did not explain why they couldn’t accept my son, except to point out we were part of Kadamay,” said Gabiola, whose family occupied a unit in the Pandi Village 2 housing project in Barangay Mapulang Lupa.

Another parent, who asked not to be identified in the report, said his three children were not accepted in an elementary school in Barangay Cacarong Bata.

He said his family occupied a unit in the Padre Pio housing site there.

But school officials denied Kadamay’s claims.

No directives

Bulacan schools superintendent, Romeo Alip, said the Department of Education gave no directives stopping schools from accepting Kadamay children.

Alip said all schools near NHA relocation sites would accept the children but their parents were required to present their records from their former schools.

“That is our basis for determining their grade assignments,” he said.

Pandi Mayor Celestino Marquez also belied Kadamay’s claims, saying the local government “understands that education is a basic right.”

Basic right

“We never issued that directive. Our schools serve everyone regardless of where he or she comes from,” he said.

Kadamay rallied here to demand access to 3,200 houses assigned to soldiers, policemen, firemen and jail personnel in an NHA project in Bocaue town.

They tried to occupy those units in March and April but they were turned away by Bocaue residents. —CARMELA REYES-ESTROPE