The P54 million Department of Education Schools Division Office (SDO) building in Kabankalan City was blessed and inaugurated on Friday, April 8.
The three-story SDO building was the first to be built by the DepEd in the Visayas, and Kabankalan is very fortunate to have it, Kabakalan Mayor Pedro Zayco said.
Zayco was joined by Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, DepEd Regional 6 Director Ramir Uytico and former 6th District Rep. Mercedes Alvarez at the inauguration rites.
The SDO building in Kabankalan City is a flagship project of the DepEd School Building Program under the Public Schools of the Future Framework.
DepEd SDO Kabankalan is headed by OIC Schools Division Superintendent, Nicasio Frio.
Lacson said that the new SDO building is “a welcome development in our goal to enhance and strengthen our educational system”.
“As the primary support structure in school operations and the office exercising direct administrative supervision over schools, we need to make our schools division offices not just accessible, efficient and highly functional, but also symbolic of our mutual aspiration to provide outstanding education to Negrenses,” the governor said.
He said the COVID-19 pandemic was a big challenge to the educational system but the “dedication and leadership of school leaders trumped whatever limitations we had in ensuring the continuity of learning”, he said.
Lacson thanked the teachers for everything they do for the Negrense youth and students.
Meanwhile, Uytico said 16 of 26 farm schools in Western Visayas are in Negros Occidental.
The establishment of farm schools is DepEd’s way of helping eradicate hunger and poverty in Western Visayas, he said.
DepEd has allocated P10 million for the farm schools in the region, which are the first in the country, Uytico said.
They are also preparing aspiring principals in Western Visayas to be graduates of a school heads academy, which will be the first in the country, he added.*