DiaRem scales up CH’s literate crop

JURIEL

the scope, nature, and rationale of the endeavor.

Meanwhile, phase three was the conduct of a diagnostic test, comprised of oral reading and comprehension assessment, among grade 7 learners to identify City Highers at the frustration level.

Providing intervention to struggling readers was phase four of the implementation; determined frustrated readers underwent an online reading intervention with the supervision of their parents or guardians and have received hard copies of reading materials from SCNHS.

Moreover, teachers also gave students various activities, starting from

Nicko Sanggo, a grade 9 SCNHS learner, says that after the figure went up from the average inflation of 3.7% every year, it has limited his ability to buy necessities and desired items for himself, family, and close friends.

Moreover, Venus Bacunot, another student of City High, pointed out that school supplies have been “increasingly harder” to buy after having to go on a tight budget due to the rise in prices of foods. Food inflation, which is also a result of costs being pushed up because of petroleum goods price hike which is a result of the war between Ukraine and Russia, has gone up to 3.8 percent for vegetables, meat (4.2 percent from 2.9 percent), and seafood (5 percent from 4.3 percent).

The increase in prices of goods, electricity, and services has led to the limited budgets of City Highers; Sanggo and Bacunot have both said that they deal with the effects of inflation through the basic to more complex exercises, such as reading basic sight words, word recognition, and sentence-reading.

Evaluating the students’ progress was the last phase of DiaRem, recognizing learners who still need to go under monitoring and students that have developed their reading proficiency.

According to Jenelyn Damaso, one of the proponents of the program, reading is an “essential skill” that must be “continually developed and enhanced” along with the other macro skills.

She also claimed that DiaRem is a “significant program” in contributing possible solutions to the current gaps in the country’s educational system.

Hazell Avijero, an SCNHS student, expressed her support for the endeavor stating: “Literacy has a significant role to play in a person’s personal development and even the development of their country. Every child is born with the right to learn—to read and write—and everyone needs literacy skills to open up options and opportunities in life.” responsible choice in what they purchase, proper budgeting of money, and putting the remaining money into their savings for school materials or other necessities.

“Through reading and writing, an individual can expand his understanding of social issues, and that could make him a critical citizen of the country. He will learn to always think for the good of the majority,” Avijero added.

Furthermore, teachers who commute to and from school have also felt the effects of the oil price woes and transport inflation going up from 10.3 percent to 13 percent, as diesel jumped by 83.7 percent and gasoline by 43 percent. Romel Revesencio, a teacher of SCNHS, said that “The pump prices of transportation have tested our ability to adapt to the changes brought by inflation and challenged us to come up with ways that ease and overcome its effects.”

According to Revesencio, one of the ways she had coped with inflation was by keeping in mind that every penny counts by buying cheaper alternatives in food and items or putting away money she had collected for her daily transportation.

Filipinos continue to cope in their own ways; a little purchase helps a city higher go big in the long run,” Ernest Papa, a junior high school student, said.

Llantada wins PVAO joust, prompts students to remember history

City Highers must push back attempts at historical revisionism and pay tribute to the servicepeople the Philippines lost during the war, grade 9 Lyra Mae Llantada said upon seizing 7th place in the 80th Araw ng Kagitingan and the 2022 Philippine Veterans Week National Essay Writing Competition on Apr. 7, conducted by the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) through the Department of Education.

In an interview with The City Icon, Llantada urged the students to remember the journey of the Filipino ancestors who implemented a coordinated response to socio-political concerns and fought for the country’s freedom.

“If there’s anything remarkable I’ve learned from the competition, it’s that we owe and own our freedom. We owe it to nationalism— to the heroes we lost at war, the people who believed in the power of their voices, and to the avant-gardes—those who took the initiative in promulgating collective response to public matters,” the grade 9 student stated.

“If we don’t want our present to read like the past, we must never forget history. City Highers ought to recall the truths of many horrors our yesterday holds. As students under a school which we claim to be ‘the premier school in the city,’ we should also be premier in terms of repulsing glaring efforts on rewriting our history,” she added.

Furthermore, the nat’l winner also claimed that the learners’ duty of remembering history should be coupled with fighting against systematic disparity and injustices happening nowadays.

“We, the youth, the students, owe it to our ancestors to continue to fight against political injustice and systematic disparity. Students should intensify wake-up calls through their uproar heartened for the people,” Llantada asserted.

The said contest is anchored with the theme, “Kagitingan ng mga Beterano, Inspirasyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino,” that aims to commemorate and rekindle the heroism and valor of the Filipinos during World War II amid COVID-19 pandemic.

In coordination with several government instrumentalities, a series of hybrid memorial affairs, both physical and virtual, and replication ceremonies for the said observance were held in various shrines over the Philippines.

Afterfalling short last 2020, the Filipino Radio Broadcasting and Scriptwriting team of Santiago City National High School (SCNHS) regained dominance and reinstituted their winning streak after ranking first in the 2022 Division Journalympics on June 23.

SCNHS’ Filipino team notched this year’s Best Anchor, Best News Presenter, Best Scriptwriter, and Best Technical Application titles, far different from the 2020 results, where they snatched only two of the special awards.

Nicole Fernandez, a Filipino news presenter, admitted that the team did more preparations this year than for the 2020 Journalympics since health restrictions imposed amid the COVID-19 pandemic have already eased down.

Meanwhile, the school’s English Radio Broadcasting team lost its place to its long-time opponent, the University of La Salette High School, the same school that bested SCNHS radio broadcasters last 2020.

However, Juriel Ignacio of the English group considers that the results were more of a “will to improve” rather than a defeat.

“When the endeavor ended, we [radio broadcasters] told ourselves: ‘We didn’t get defeated; we were just given more will to improve.’ When you see the