To ensure the safety of the students and check if basic utilities are well delivered, Valenzuela City Mayor WES Gatchalian inspects several public elementary schools on the first day of face-to-face classes, August 22.

The City Mayor visited and inspected Roberta de Jesus Elementary School in Barangay Bignay, Lawang Bato Elementary School, and Silvestre Lazaro Elementary School in Barangay Ugong.

The local chief executive was keen to observe school facilities such as restrooms and urinals, hand washing stations that are essential in the new normal, basic utilities such as a strong water supply, enough tables and chairs for students, and to check whether the rooms are well lighted and well ventilated. He even paid attention to small details such as damaged door knobs and exposed electrical wirings.

Mayor WES noticed that some classroom does not have a television that is necessary for delivering everyday lessons, while some auxiliary and laboratory rooms were used as regular classroom because of insufficient rooms.

“Nakita ko po na kailangan maiayos ang ating mga restrooms kung kaya ay nais kong ilunsad ang full renovation ng mga ito. Bukod dito, ating pupunan ang iba pang pangangailangan ng mga silid-aralan gaya ng mga TV na makatutulong sa epektibong pagtuturo ng mga aralin.” (I saw that our restrooms need to be fixed, so I want to launch their full renovation. In addition, we will fill in other needs of the classrooms such as TVs that will help in the effective teaching of lessons.) Mayor WES said.

Mayor WES immediately coordinated all the damaged and broken facilities to the City Engineering Office Head for immediate action. He promised to provide all classrooms with 40 inches television set with a good sound system for teachers and students to use.

Meanwhile, the City Mayor commended the schools that have prepared well for the new normal. Most schools have baskets filled with alcohol and face masks before room entrance. He then recognized that all the teachers utilized the VCGuroAko laptops in teaching lessons. VCGuroAko is the first ever LGU-initiated digital education portal in the country. It is outlined to provide ease to the teachers in the new normal way of learning and teaching today. It has all the needed tools such as, grades encoding, announcements, events calendar, lesson plans, class records, and reports generation, among others.

Mayor WES was accompanied by Education 360 Degrees Investment Program Director Vice Mayor Lorie Natividad Borja and Action Officer Rovin Feliciano, City Engineering Office Head Reynaldo Sunga, Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Meliton Zurbano, and principals of each school.

As of writing, Valenzuela City has 68 public schools, combined of elementary and high school with around 146 thousand enrollees for this school year.

These public schools are already implementing full face-to-face classes except for Roberta de Jesus Elementary School, Gen. T. de Leon National High School, Sitio Santo Rosario Elementary School, and Antonio M. Serapio Elementary School.

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