Special Program for Journalism (SPJ) coordinator Richard Brian Tutor stressed that despite of the population depletion of journalism students, the program would obtain its efficiency as its target number to reach is only 15 above per grade level.
“For the number of students, 15 students lang naman talaga ang required under the program. Fifteen, as in one five so kumbaga, pasok pa rin naman yung grade 7, nasa 13 sila, pasok pa rin kasi yun lang naman talaga ang nasa guidelines,” Tutor explained.
For years, the statistics declined from 2016-2017 tallying 35 grade seven students to 2019-2020 on 13 per student’s headcount.
The SPJ coordinator also emphasized that although the numbers would increase per grade level with transferees from pilot and regular sections, the current deflation in grade 7 SPJ pupils might result to a change in curriculum.
“Kung mas bumaba pa sa 13, hopefully huwag naman, pero kung ganon, there might be some changes when it comes sa program. Ibig sabihin, may problema sa sistema. Inaadress naman agad agad yun. Hindi naman pinapabayaan yun.” Tutor said.
Moreover, he admitted that the program’s standards do not qualify students, citing significance of journalistic skills over intelligence.
“Since ang SPJ ay talent, talagang mahihirapan maghanap ng mga estudyante. Kumbaga, expected na yun, na hindi lahat ng mga estudyante qualified sa SPJ.” the SPJ coordinator uttered.
Tutor also mentioned that balancing extracurricular activities and academics might result with the grade seven students’ rejection to apply in the program.
The SPJ coordinator, however, still believes that CAYS campus journalists can sustain their performance during press conferences.
“Actually, feel ko naman, sustained pa rin namandahil yung mga nakukuha naman natin ay same people na talagang ano, maaasahan pa rin o di kaya ay mapapakinabangan pa rin sa school paper,” he added.
THE ECHOES 