Aklan PNP ready for 'Balik-Eskwela'
DTI Aklan monitors school supplies
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL / The NewsToday
http://www.thenewstoday.info/2010/05/27/aklan.pnp.ready.for.balik.eskwela.html

KALIBO, Aklan - The Philippine National Police (PNP) is set to implement the security and public safety plan for the opening of classes on June 15, especially in the province of Aklan, a top official of the Aklan Police Provincial Office (APPO) said.

Senior Superintendent Epifanio Bragais, Jr. said the "Oplan Balik-Eskwela 2010" is being readied to ensure all police units perform their tasks for the safety of tens of thousands of students and the public in the province.

The entire PNP is on a nationwide alert to assist the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education in the simultaneous opening of classes early June. The police stations are deploying uniformed police officers to conduct field and visibility patrols near the schools and colleges and to respond from any street crimes of suspicious looking individuals, he added.

All school principals are directed to discuss with the police the security measures to keep the public schools from crimes and to assure the public of DepEd's readiness for the coming school year.

Together with other education stakeholders, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Aklan is also closely monitoring the prices of school supplies and reported that prices of school items sold in stores stay stable.

Over DyRU Super Radyo Kalibo, DTI provincial director Diosdado Cadena, Jr. noted that school supplies monitored in the local market are sold lower than the Suggested Retail Price (SRP), which are of good quality and competitive with those new brands.

Three weeks before the opening of classes, the prices of notebooks, crayons, pencils and pad papers remain stable. The surge of buyers are also expected to rise in the first week of June since some parents normally buy the school supplies as the opening of classes in June nears.

Retailers also offer lower prices of school supplies to dispose their old stocks in bodegas or warehouses, the DTI stressed.