By Bong Pedalino

Maasin City (6 October) -- A unanimous mass motion by the members of the Provincial Development Council (PDC) in its regular, monthly meeting at the RK Kangleon Function House, this city, October 4, summed up the mood of gratefulness everybody has as a fitting tribute towards Schools Division Superintendent Violeta Alocilja.

In two successive resolutions raised one after the other, the PDC commended Alocilja and the rest of her teaching staff and administrators down the line for a job well done, for giving honors to the province by reaching academic excellence as shown by the latest results of the national achievement tests (NAT).

Another resolution, moved by Provincial Administrator Genis Murallos, came as a natural, inevitable consequence for such kind of success: a measure to have Alocilja as an adopted Southern Leytena.

Earlier, the comely Alocilja made a presentation on the data from the national office of the Department of Education showing ten elementary schools in various barangays and towns of the province sweeping the top ten spots, in numerical order, out of the 35,000 plus public elementary schools in the country for the grade six NAT results.

For first year high school, eight public high schools landed in the top 30 nationwide listing, and the topmost three all came from Southern Leyte.

The result for fourth year high schools also showed Southern Leyte Division on the number one slot, it was learned.

“There are still pockets of achievements on specific subjects, and we are still waiting for the list from the Central Office. But all schools in Southern Leyte are above par,” Alocilja said during the presentation, although she did not elaborate.

She likewise expressed her deep thanks to the local government officials, the DepEd family, and all other stakeholders in the academic sector, particularly the parents and students for their heartfelt support to the innovative approaches in learning she undertook in the province as a matter of policy.

It was learned that schools conduct extended classes every Saturday as part of their discipline and tedious preparations for the nationwide examinations, and this has been taken as a policy being implemented provincewide.