News
Small but smart public school makes it big
[OCTOBER 24, 2008/MANILA] The G.L. David Memorial Elementary School looks like your typical public school, although smaller than most with only around 300 students. Located some distance from the cemented public road, the school is accessible via a dirt road that is dusty under the sun and turns muddy when it rains. The few structures inside the school compound are one-story affairs.
But this little school in Balanga City caught the attention of leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) when it topped 30,396 elementary schools in the National Elementary Achievement Test (NEAT) this year.
“Looks can be deceiving,” says Zenaida San Pedro, the school’s principal. “We are lucky that our teachers are hard-working. It makes no difference to them even if our school is quite far from the city proper. They make the extra effort to make sure that their lesson plans are updated and whenever the exams are near (periodical exams and NEAT), they conduct classes even on Saturdays,” she adds.
It also helps that the parents are very supportive, she says. “They volunteer whenever we hold programs or academic activities for the students.”
G.L. David is now a Smart Schools Program partner, giving students a chance to supplement their knowledge through the use of the Internet. “Even though the City Library is far from us, the students will now have access to the latest educational materials via the Internet,” San Pedro adds.
SMART recently adopted the school as one of its seven partners in Balanga City under its Smart Schools Program. Aside from G.L. David, the others are Bataan National High School, Cabog-Cabog Elementary School, Our Lady of Lourdes Elementary School, Bani Elementary School, Tanato Elementary School and Balanga Integrated School.
“We are all happy that SMART gave us the necessary computer equipment and Internet connectivity since it allows our students to familiarize themselves with computer and Internet services,” says Mildred Montañez, a faculty member. “This will also help us teachers in doing our reports, computing grades, and in doing research for our lesson plans,” she adds.
“When the computer unit arrived, the students were very excited but quite hesitant to go near it,” says San Pedro. “Now that we have a computer in the school, students can learn how to use it hands-on.”
She expresses pride that a small school like G. L. David is able to overcome the lack of basic facilities like chairs and textbooks and still provide quality education.
Ten teachers hold classes for a total of 326 students, most of who come to school in slippers since the rocky road going to the school can easily wear out shoes that are hard to come by, especially if it turns muddy.
“Fifteen years ago, our school started out with just two teachers, about 20 Grade 1 students in one classroom behind the grass that was taller than the students,” she says. The school became a complete elementary school, offering Kinder to Grade 6, just five years ago.
“Now, we take pride in being the number one school in the National Elementary Achievement Test,” she says.
So does Balanga City, led by its mayor Jose Enrique “Joet” Garcia III, who is behind the plan to make Balanga a world-class university town by year 2020.
“We want to be known for quality education, where being a graduate of a public or private school in Balanga would mean that one has been trained in the highest educational standard,” he says.
With performing schools like G.L. David, it looks like Balanga City already has a head start on attaining its vision.
(Published 27 October 2008, Smart Communications, Inc.)
