The Department of Education in Dumaguete City assured the public that it has enough classrooms and other school facilities for the start of school year 2007-2008.

City DepEd division Supt Licerio Napao said the entire division has enough facilities, and enough desks, textbooks, reading materials, among others.

It has also enough elementary school teachers, but needs additional high school teachers for the new first year vocational high school at the North City Elementary School.

Napao said he is pursuing the nationalization of locally paid high school teachers.

The more than 24,000 elementary and public high school students in the city division of Dumaguete should be enrolled without spending a single centavo for different kinds of fees.

Napao told the principals to strictly adhere to the memorandum issued by Sec. Jesli Lapus. Despite the directive, many parents have paid for what they call voluntary contributions, like the PTCA, boy and girl scout fees, insurance.

He explained that such fees were agreed upon by the parent-teachers associations and the school has nothing to do with it.

Meanwhile, lawyers from the Central Office of the Department of Education will train principals in public elementary and schools in legal management.

DepEd Undersecretary Franklin Sunga and seven lawyers from the department will train about 800 principals from Oriental Negros and Siquijor island from May 31-June 1, on how to handle cases involving teachers.

Participating are school principals from the cities of Bayawan, Bais and Dumaguete, says Deped division superintendent Licerio Napao.

Napao said the training will equip these principals with the basic knowledge on legal management and to prepare them for any eventuality.

DepEd regional director Carolino Mordeno is also coming.

Napao said no election-related incident involving teachers, was recorded in the city during the last election and attributed this to the teachers' strict adherence to existing rules and prohibitions for clean, orderly, peaceful and honest elections.*JG