The Campus Journalism Act And Campus Writers at National Schools Press Conference
“The national and international campus writers have the rights to act and be the general voice of the majority of underprivileged individuals whose intentions and motives are to help the government in particular and the nation in general prosper economically–away from hassles and bustles of busy and greedy politicians who always take advantages of the country’s wealth, natural resources, etc.”
The campus journalism act in the Philippines gives a full blast to press freedom among student-journalists. As a matter of fact, there are pros and cons of this journalism act, but there are prevailing factors that can help contribute to the press freedom. This act will protect the campus advisers and writers from harassment and abuse of power to those persons in full authority.
In the Philippines, the campus journalism act is very lenient in the sense that it doesn’t cater a lot to the needs of the people in media industry. It does not give fully the options either to give constructive or destructive comments against the persons in the government or the persons in the private learning institutions. Each writer has to be very careful and not to be abusive of his/her power and privileges.
If there are limitations about the press freedom, the persons in authority ought to be very careful and not to be very abusive in order to thwart from being attacked by the media.
In every school (both public and private) there is a campus paper to let the people, especially the parents know about the projects and activities to be undertaken by the school administrators, teachers, and students.
This kind of act is a laudable endeavor to be recognized by the DepEd officials. Because of this act, promising campus writers are trained and given exposure to hone their talents. Press conferences are held every year. Starting with the division level, it goes to the regional level and finally to the national level. Campus writers, who qualify to the regional level, have the chance to visit different places in the region and those who qualify to the national level have the chance to visit different places all over the Philippines.
However, because of scarcity of funds, there are times when winning campus writers cannot compete with the winners in regional level, much more to the national level. The reason for this is that the schools depend on PTCA (Parent-Teacher-Association) funds’ participation in and out of town press conferences. Sometimes, these are curtailed because either funds are diverted to other purpose or there are no collections at all. It’s disheartening to know that a provision in the DepEd memorandum 203 dated June 5, 2006, stated that the regional trainings of advisers and campus journalists shall be subsidized by the Campus Journalism Funds (CJF).
Based on our experience, our participations in the area, division and even regional press conferences were never subsidized by the CJF. There was an instance when we almost gave up and did not participate in the division schools press conference which was held in Daanbantayan National High School, Daanbantayan, Cebu because we did not have funds for fare, registration and allowance for the contingent. It was really frustrating as we had more than 20 winners in the area level.
Even if the former DepEd Director Mordeno in Region VII emphasized that school paper funds should be deposited in a bank with the principal, adviser and editor-in-chief as signatories, this was not so strictly followed during our times where the majority of advisers, principals and editor-in-chiefs were clamoring for the lack of funds. On the contrary, the PTCA has collected and kept custody of all funds. It can’t be denied that they are all responsible for the money collection and students’ contributions, not the faculty and principal.
The national campus journalists on the go!
Editor-in-Chief and School Paper Adviser will attend NSPC this year in Butuan City, Philippines, for Editorial Writing, Online Journalism and Festival of Talents in SPFL-French
Carlo Galicia from Minglanilla National Science High School will fly to Butuan City for NSPC competitions in Editorial Writing Category (English) and Online Journalism, representing Cebu Province DivisionAs part of the culminating activities, under the SPFL, Galicia is one of the participants in NSPC with regard to the showcase of talents in the use of a 2nd foreign language like FrenchThe objectives of the special program in foreign language (SPFL) in the NSPC are to promote the special program in foreign language, and to encourage students to participate in the program and see the value of learning another foreign languageThe theme for the said event: “Freedom of Expression: Rights and Responsibility.” The organizers are expecting more than 4,000 delegates from 17 regions who will be joining the National Schools Press Conference in Butuan City that would converge in friendly competition and exercise the freedom of expression.
The National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) this school year focuses on the “Freedom of Expression: Rights and Responsibility.” As such, the Department of Education (DepEd) mobilizes schools support by advocating and integrating rights and responsibility in related school-community initiatives.
The annual NSPC draws a thousand campus journalists from public and private elementary and high school students nationwide. It will be held this year in Butuan City, Caraga Region. It is the place for the national competition of qualified regional winners coming from diverse elementary and secondary levels in the Philippines, most especially for the presscon competition in various categories (English).
Carlo Galicia from Minglanilla National Science High School will compete with other qualified winners during the RSPC for NSPC competition in Editorial Writing Category (English). He is one of the winners in editorial writing from Cebu Province Division. He is to be accompanied by his coach Dr. Ermetes F. Adolfo, Jr., the Access school paper adviser.
According to Eugenia R. Gorgon (Officer-in-Charge, Director IV) of Department of Education, in the Festival of Talents: Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL) in NSPC, in connection with the annual holding of the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) in Butuan City, Caraga Region and with reference to DepEd Memorandum No. 15 and DepEd Advisory No. 50 that part of its culminating activities, under the Special Program in Foreign Language (SPFL) is a showcase of talents in the use of a 2nd foreign language like French. In this regard, Minglanilla National Science High School is one of the participants from Region VII to join in the said event.
Individual and group writing contests in English and Filipino will carry the conference theme: “Freedom of Expression: Rights and Responsibility.”
The group contests comprise five categories: editorial page, feature/literary page, news page and sports page.
High school and elementary students will participate in the individual contests such as editorial writing, news writing, feature writing, sports writing. There will also be competitions in copy reading and headline writing, photojournalism, editorial cartooning, and scriptwriting and radio broadcasting.
RSPC formally opens with delegates from different schools in Region VII
Regional Press Conference has the biggest delegation of private and public schools compared to RSPC last year
Cebu Province led by Mrs. Evelyn Balang (English Supervisor) and Mrs. Novie Mangubat (Filipino Supervisor) actively participated in a 4-day conference with
Filed: Scholarship | Edutags: campus, Conference, Journalism, National, Press, Schools, Writers
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