Guv fights to retain two school brass
LINGAYEN–Governor Amado Espino Jr. and members of the provincial board are fighting for the retention of the province’s two schools division superintendents in their current posts amid reports of being transferred to a smaller unit, allegedly as a “punishment” by Education Secretary Jesli Lapus.
Espino and the board members have signed a manifesto requesting President Gloria Arroyo to retain Dr. Armando Aquino and Dr. Alma Ruby Torio, schools division superintendents of Pangasinan 1 and 2 respectively.
Lapus was reported to have been slighted for supposedly being bypassed by the two superintendents in the production of teachers’ guidebooks in Pangasinan, one of the projects proudly reported by the Espino administration as among their major accomplishments last year.
“I will not take that (reassignment) sitting down because it’s as if the provincial government is at fault because we supported it and we paid for it,” an irate Espino told local newsmen last week, adding that the two are giving their best for the students’ education.
Espino said he learned that Aquino’s and Torio’s sudden reassignment was prompted by the failure of the latter to clear the project with Lapus.
The governor said it was the provincial government, not the two, which initiated the project called Course of Study (COS) that serves as teachers’ guidebooks across the province.
The manifesto declares that the COS has brought radical changes and improved the quality of education in the province
Initially, 47, 000 guide-books were distributed in February for English, Mathematics and Science subjects. Another set for Social Studies and History are also scheduled for distribution.
Espino said he refused to meet with the regional director, Dr. Ligaya Soledad Miguel, who was directed by the DepEd secretary to see him, since the agenda was not for the consideration of his request for the retention of the two superintendents in Pangasinan.
Espino also sent a letter to Lapus dated March 9, 2009 assuring him that the content and materials in the guidebooks are in accordance with standards prescribed by the Department of Education.
It was who Aquino piloted the project two years ago, a plan of teaching a particular subject for a particular year equivalent to a lesson plan and Espino adopted it for all schools in the province.
Aquino explained in a letter to the DepEd regional director that COS was first tried in schools of Pangasinan II in 2006 and won recognition and applause from the DepEd regional executive committee (EXECOM).
“The superintendents were all praises and appreciative of the use of the course of study, and you did not stop us,” Aquino wrote.
“To ask permission from the DepEd office ‘to write a lesson plan’ is an insult to the intellect of teachers,” he said.
He further explained that even the mass production of the guidebooks has legal basis as stipulated in Rule 6, section 6.2 of the Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) of Republic Act 9155.
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