Several days before leaving city hall, outgoing Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said that 25 more local public high school libraries were provided with internet connections to facilitate the students’ research requirements and other educational needs.
With the new addition, Belmonte said there are now 58 internet-connected public high school libraries in the city that will benefit poor students who are forced to shell out extra internet cafe expenditures.
The new public school beneficiaries include the Ismael Mathay Sr. High School , Batasan National High School , Manuel Roxas High School , Jose P. Laurel High School, North Fairview High School, San Jose High School, Sergio Osmeña High School, Masambong High School, Pugad Lawin High School, Holy Spirit National High School, Bagong Silangan High School, Tandang Sora National High School, Justice Cecilia Muñoz Palma High School, Maligaya High School, Doña Rosario High School, Sauyo High School, Balara High School, Carlos P. Garcia High School, Don Quintin Paredes High School, Krus na Ligas High School, Flora A. Ylagan High School, Ponciano Bernardo High School, Judge Feliciano Belmonte High School, Dr. Josefa Jara Martinez High School and the National Orthopedic Hospital School – San Gabriel branch.
Each school was provided by the city government with nine computer units, said Dr. Rowena Cacanindin, officer-in-charge of the QC division of schools.
In the wake of the possible ban of students in malls during school hours, Councilor Jaime Borres of the city’s Third District said that the additional internet connection on public school libraries is a morale booster for the students who sometimes are required to do extensive research work.
Parents in the past have complained that their children are unnecessarily exposed to danger when they go home at night coming from several hours of doing school-related activities in internet shops.
On worst case scenarios, Borres said that the children without adequate adult supervision are sometimes tempted or swayed by their peers to gamble on games like DOTA or watch illicit and sexually suggestive or violent scenes in the internet due to the relaxed rules imposed by the shop owners.
“I have already been a witness on how a bright public high school student was engulfed by peer pressure acquiring unimaginable vices inside internet shops. He learned to smoke pot, drink liquor, gamble and became disrespectful to his elders as the influence of bad company was simply too much for him to overcome. It is a good thing that the parents were able to put some sense into his mind as he bounced back from two mediocre grading periods to land in the top five of his class in the succeeding grading periods,’’ Borres added.
Borres said that not all are success stories recalling an incident when a promising female public high school student run away from home to be in the company of her friends she met in his frequent stays at various internet shops in the neighbourhood.
He added that the bright future of the student went down the drain as she joined a gang where she acquired bad habits like using drugs, taking alcohol and being involved in petty crimes that landed her in jail.
Borres cited Belmonte for giving the councilors annual funds from the city’s coffers which they can dispense for programs of their choice in their respective districts allowing him to purchase computers for public schools and identification cards (ID) with laces for public school students.
No comments:
Post a Comment