Tagbilaran Mayor Dan Lim wants school reforms to trickle down to the roots as he vowed to elevate the quality of public education in the city. Last Thursday, Lim pushed for the adoption of several key measures intended to put flesh into the reforms that he wanted to take place in the city public school system. “We started by distributing free school uniforms including pairs of shoes, school bags, papers and pencils as our way of inspiring students to go to school with their heads held high,” he added.
The mayor said that in his first term, he also saw to it that electric fans were installed in all classrooms as much as possible. In addition, he also ordered the construction of more comfort rooms. Lim however stressed that it was only the first step in “a long and complicated” process to institute reforms in the public school system. Last week, a resolution was approved creating a committee to conduct an assessment and evaluation of teaching and non-teaching personnel in public elementary and secondary school.
“The intention is to be serious in looking into the bottom 20% in each class, determine the causes why they are performing poorly, undertake measures to address those that can be solved from their level and recommend those that are beyond their competence,” the mayor said. Lim said that teachers should take their duties seriously because the reforms that he wanted to be implemented would be useless if they are not motivated properly. "If it is found out that teachers are not performing their tasks seriously, I will see to it that they are transferred outside Tagbilaran,” he warned. Lim said that teachers who are not motivated to teach are not only putting to waste the efforts of the city government but worse are playing around with the lives of their students.
“In the last three years, I have proven without a doubt my sincerity in pushing for reforms and programs in the public education sector that no administration has implemented in the past,” he added. At the same time, the mayor warned teachers and even Parents-Teachers Associations (PTA) from collecting solicitations and contributions for any reason. “Collections and contributions are expressly prohibited and anybody found to have violated this will be dealt with accordingly,” he warned. Lim said there were numerous complaints in the past about contributions and solicitations even though it is prohibited. “This is my final warning,” the mayor declared.
