Sen. Kiko Pangilinan on Calbayog (a little bit of it)

Today's edition of the Manila Bulletin contained a feature on Sen. Kiko Pangilinan. The two-page article entitled 'Mr. Independent' was an interview conducted by Rachel Barawid, Angelo Garcia, Ina Malipot, Ronald Lim, Jaser Marasigan and Ma. Theresa Arriza. When asked about how he instill discipline on his kids, he cited something about Calbayog:

"... There’s a study that shows that the quality sleep of a child is 8 p.m. to 11. Kaya yung maliliit maliliit. Yung matatatangkad, matatatangkad. Hindi, hindi. (Smiles) I review them for class and I even attend Parents-Teachers conferences. Even with KC. Sabi nga ni Sharon nun, ‘o ikaw naman, maghabol ka…’ In Poveda, up to IS (International School), up to Paris, I met with her academic adviser.

And the truth is, and this is another experience in Calbayog city. In Calbayog city, 2002, the mayor of the city Mayor Sarmiento decided to look into the performance of the Calbayog city high school students in terms of test scores. Local government provided resource materials, PTAs came in also and got involved. They put in place programs, mandatory tutorials on weekends and mock exams for the tests. Three years later, Calbayog City High School was not yet a national high school because there were certain requirements. But then they were already outperforming Cebu national high schools and Manila national high schools. Calbayog High School. So napuwersa yung DepEd naku eto hindi pa national high school pero mas maganda ang grade sa mga national high school. Kakahiya. National high school ka na rin, diba! So they became Calbayog City National High School.

What’s the moral of the story there, when the community, when parents are directly involved in the education of your children, the quality of the education and the performance of the students are much, much better. So there’s no rocket science to it . . . "

For the complete article, you may check this link.