DepEd Cebu City to accept transferees from Mindanao
THE Department of Education (DepEd) Cebu City Division is ready to accommodate possible transferees from Marawi City and other areas in Mindanao that were affected by the declaration of martial law.
Minang Manggis, Cebu City Division Madrasah education coordinator, said they were expecting an increase of enrollees in Cebu City due to the ongoing conflict in Mindanao.
The DepEd Cebu City Division will accommodate transferees from Mindanao even if they do not have documents especially those coming from areas affected by the conflict.
For school year 2016 to 2017, the DepEd Cebu City Division recorded 827 Muslim enrollees.
For this coming school year, there is no available data yet for Muslim learners since the first day of classes has yet to start.
Manggis explained that some families in Mindanao have already expressed interest to transfer in Cebu City while Mindanao is still placed under martial law.
“If ever there is room shortage or congestion gamay ra (very little). We already have new school buildings,” Manggis said.
Classes not affected
There are 18 regular teachers and 92 contractual teachers for Madrasah Education Program in Cebu City. Twenty-four of them — two regular teachers and 22 contractual teachers — were stranded in Marawi City because of the ongoing clash between the government troops and the Maute Group.
One of the 22 contractual teachers died after giving birth because of stress and fear during the evacuation.
But despite this, Manggis said classes for Madrasah Education Program in Cebu City are not affected because of the observance of Ramadan from May 26 to June 24.
During Ramadan, work schedule for Muslim employees of DepEd has been adjusted from regular office hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with no noon break.
According to the DepEd website, the Madrasah Education Program is a comprehensive program for Muslim learners in public and private schools, which provides appropriate and relevant educational opportunities within the context of their cultures, customs, traditions and interests.
Muslim students will learn Arabic language and Muslim values.
In Cebu City, there are also 3,060 non-Muslim learners from 21 schools who are also enrolled under Madrasah Education Program.
Manggis said that if the Madrasah teachers from Mindanao will not be able to return before Ramadan ends, they will have to conduct a meeting on how to address the lack of teachers.
The DepEd Cebu City Division is also working to give P6,500 allowance for the stranded Muslim teachers as aid.
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