BAGUIO Congressman Mark Go’s bills converting two annex schools of the Baguio City National High School (BCNHS) to independent high schools have been approved by the Senate on third and final reading for immediate implementation.
The committees in the Senate have expressed full support for House Bills 7994 and 7995, which is now ready to be executed.
The bills would convert BCNHS annex schools Fort Del Pilar and Hillside into independent national high schools to accommodate more students, as BCNHS is currently stretched thin in accommodating student needs despite augmentation from the annex schools.
While BCNHS only has 9,000 students as of the current day, some of whom are educated in the annex schools, the national high school’s administration is stretched between the main school and all the annexes.
Under the current system of annex schools, there is only the school principal item, and regular teacher items are limited.
Fort Del Pilar annex caters to 800 students handled by 29 teachers in 16 classrooms throughout the five buildings. However, two of the buildings and six of the classrooms are makeshift facilities, and the teachers are on loan from the main national high school of the BCNHS.
Hillside annex caters to 300 students in five classrooms spread over three buildings, with teachers similarly borrowed from the BCNHS.
According to Go, converting the annex schools to independent national high schools will increase the capacity of the annexes and take the strain away from the main national high school.
“Nationalizing these two schools will also decongest BCNHS. Right now we cannot do so because of the limited capacity of these annexes,” Rep. Go said.
The Senate also passed HB 6491, also by Go, which seeks the full rehabilitation of Kennon Road.
Once signed into law, HB 6491 would mandate the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to undertake Kennon Road’s full rehabilitation and maintenance, one of the oldest and most popular highways to Baguio City, into a safe and all-weather road. The road work will cover parts of Kennon Road that pass through barangays Camps 1 to 6 in Tuba, Benguet, and Camps 7 and 8 in Baguio City.
Popular among Baguio City-bound motorists, Kennon Road has been the site of numerous accidents and experienced frequent closures caused by landslides. Rep. Go said that a full rehabilitation of the 117-year-old highway was long overdue, and would assure the safety and convenience of travelers in the long term.
