“JEJEMONS” ARE UNACCEPTABLE but so are the shortages of classrooms, teachers and textbooks.
Instead of going after the “jejemons,” the Department of Education (DepEd) should focus on solving major problems like classroom and book shortages, the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) said Saturday.
NUSP president Einstein Recedes said the DepEd’s “declaration of war” against the jejemons—or those who have a peculiar way of writing English, mangling grammar and spelling in the process—was “shallow” and that “it eclipsed the pressing concerns of the youth by paying too much attention to a [form of] text-speak. ”
“Two weeks before the start of classes, DepEd warns the public about “jejemon” as an impediment to the youth’s learning. Despite the issues on the lack of classrooms, derelict facilities, underpaid teachers, high dropout rates, corruption cases, DepEd chose to campaign against a subculture,” Recedes said.
He added that the DepEd’s campaign against “jejemon” was “not [simply] forgetting the urgent matters it should be focusing on ... [it was] deeply rooted [in] the department’s skewed attitude on education issues.”
Pertinent issues
According to the data gathered by the NUSP and Kabataan Party-list, the average classroom-to-student ratio in elementary and high schools in the NCR (National Capital Region) was 1 is to 85 students; the number of new teachers needed was 49,699; the classroom, seat and textbook shortages were 57,930, 3.48 million and 34.7 million, respectively.
Recedes said around 34 percent of those who enroll in grade school do not reach Grade 5. On the other hand, 31 out of 100 students who enroll in high school drop out before reaching their senior year.
“I challenge anyone to cite at least one recent statement from DepEd that explicitly decries the pertinent issues on education. Never has DepEd declared war against those responsible for the hefty budget cuts on education,” he said.
He also said DepEd remained “inhibited on its anomalous doings such as the textbook and noodle scam, to name but two.”
Crude policies
“The department has never questioned its crude policies such as the ‘double shift’ classroom system or the ‘restructured basic education’ system. DepEd has not budged to condemn, as bad influence to the youth, the government officials who slack, lie, cheat and kill,” Recedes said.
He said the real impediment to the youth’s learning was the “rotten system of education” that the DepEd should be “dedicated to transform.”
“If DepEd insists on its mode against jejemon instead of addressing the systemic problem on education plaguing the youth, then it can only be either due to cowardice or sheer ineptitude,” he added.
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