Vice President and outgoing Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sara Duterte skipped attendance on the opening of the Palarong Pambansa 2024 to visit a few athletes confined at the hospital.
VP Sara preferred to be with the athletes personally to extend support at the hospital, said Undersecretary Michael Wesley Poa who is the chief of staff of VP Sara.
"So naisipan ng ating Vice President na bisitahin sila kahapon para mabigyan sila ng moral support fo the Palarong Pambansa. And I think we should also show concern din dun sa mga athletes na hindi nakasali sa opening," Poa said.
Earlier, it was expected that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and VP Sara would see each again since she resigned as DepEd secretary.
However, while the President was seen during the opening ceremony, VP Sara was at a government hospital with the athletes.
As of this writing, DepEd is yet to issue a statement on the specific ailments that beset student-athletes.
VP Sara also graced the opening of the Learners Convergence 2024 (LearnCon) in Lapu-Lapu City and the National Schools Press Conference on July 9, 2024 hosted by Carcar City, Cebu.
LEARNCON 2024
LearnCon is a gathering of over 2,000 student-leaders from various schools all over the country who will help craft proposals on policies and projects of the DepEd seen to meet the growing needs of Filipino learners.
In her speech, VP Sara took pride in the response of the department to the proposals submitted by the student-leaders in last year's LearnCon.
Among the proposals that already saw implementation are the establishment of mental health and wellness units wherein DepEd hired about 10,000 personnel trained in psychological first aid. The response saved reportedly at least 900 cases of probable self-inflicted harm as the program offers psychological counseling.
Other responses include the launch of the “Matatag” (to mean strong or sturdy) Curriculum and the conduct of Catch-Up Fridays to help bridge learning gaps experienced by students during the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a policy, "Matatag" upholds the principle of "Making the curriculum relevant to produce job-ready, active, and responsible citizens."
VP Sara further mentioned other significant responses such as the removal of administrative tasks from teachers and the resumption of the normal school calendar.
NSPC 2024
Student-journalists from public and private elementary and secondary schools from across the country have gathered in Carcar City, Cebu for the National Schools Press Conference 2024, the largest journalism competition in the Philippines.
The tournament features the best of the best campus journalists contending for medals in individual and group categories like news writing, feature writing, sports writing, photojournalism, and TV and radio scriptwriting, among others.
NATIONAL LEARNING CAMP
Further, she graced the National Learning Camp program in San Fernando Central School in San Fernando town, south Cebu Province.
National Learning Camp is designed to improve learning in the form of enhancement, consolidation, or intervention programs in all learning areas for Kindergarten to 12 learners; and enhance teacher capacity.
(via F. M. Dumaboc and L.A.M. Rondina/GMA Regional TV Balitang Bisdak)
