It is almost the end of May. The end of summer. The end of vacation season for many or most of us.
Soon the streets will again be abuzz of the nation’s youth trooping to schools in hopes of securing a brighter future with the acquisition of a decent degree.
Education.
This is one of the foundations of progress and development enjoyed by the City of Urdaneta not only because of its citizens getting their fair share of education (although this may still be debatable), but as a center for learning and academia. In the last 10 years, Urdaneta’s visibility in the education map has been accelerated by the growth of its colleges, lately, their transformation into universities, as well as the arrival of new and similarly prestigious ones. This achievement is certainly something to be proud of.
But to shallowly but seriously quote a popular movie line, “With great power comes responsibility.”
The City of Urdaneta as well as the related institutions have a huge task and responsibility: for the young minds who come to our city from all over the country to get what they come searching for – an education. Equally important is their safety, accessibility and satisfaction. The same goes for the Urdaneta residents.
As the new school year starts, we would like to point out a few new and long standing issues that would benefit the entire academic community if addressed.
- Information and Credibility.
- The reliability of the information that is dissipated among students. What are the institutions doing to make sure that their students are properly and promptly informed? Are there available printed materials, handouts, pamphlets and brochures that provide an idea of what the school is like?
- Are the institutions making the effort to provide information to the students conveniently? Does it have a well composed and effective website so that a student may be conveniently informed even before setting foot in the door? Just because a school has a website does not mean that it automatically qualifies. If the information in that website mainly contains profiles of its staff and location, it is not serving its purpose. The website must contain useful information TO THE STUDENTS and not to impress its competitors. Check out the following websites: http://www.yonsei.ac.kr/eng/ , http://www.ateneo.edu/ , http://lorma.edu/index.php and compare with the city’s bigshots: http://ucu.edu.ph/ , http://pcst.edu.ph/ , http://www.psu.edu.ph/ , http://www.abecollege.com/
- Are the courses offered in these institutions duly accredited? Just because an institution bears the name University does not insure that everything is quality controlled. There have been issues in the past when students who have willingly spent precious time and money in hopes of getting a job only to be embarrassed to find out that the course they took were not recognized by CHED. The same can be said true of smaller colleges and institutes. In this case, it is in the student’s best interest to deeply and carefully research about an offered course before enrolling. Before it is too late. Refer to the CHED Website if you must: http://www.ched.gov.ph/
- Health and Safety.
- It is no secret that young people are exposed to many socially related threats and dangers as they enter the adolescent stage.
- While we applaud the high merits that the Urdaneta City Police are reaping for being one of the best police stations in Region 1, is the police force prepared to meet the demands of sudden increase in the city’s population when the new school year starts?
- Are the city’s facilities well equipped to take on a huge task of serving and protecting its citizens if and when a disaster strikes?
- If a disaster, calamity or outbreak may be prevented, what is the city doing to monitor it?
- As a city’s population increases, so does its crime rate. We often hear of news of violence related crimes such as murder and rape around the city. We will not ask a question on this. We directly urge the city government to allocate more resources to ensure that this is minimized if not completely eradicated.
- Accommodation
- Are the living quarters of these minors treated with dignity and respect? It is no secret either that adolescence is the period of experimentation and as free people we have the right to do so. But Dormitories and Guest house owners have the responsibility to ensure that it is not abused and that it does not destroy a young person’s future.
- Are the facilities well cared for? A piece of plywood for a bed that costs 300- 500 pesos a month is not a good business practice. What is the city doing to ensure that boarders get their money’s worth?
There are may other issues and concerns that we have missed and we urge everyone to speak out about them. Not to provoke a smear of reputations but rather to participate in a constructive expression of critiques. Hopefully this will help improve the quality of services not only for the academic population but for the entire City and its residents.
by: DRK
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