SIQUIJOR, Feb 24 (PIA)--Representatives
from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) recently conducted rounds
of monitoring and evaluation on the implementation of the ovicidal-larvicidal
(OL) trap programs in 12 different sentinel schools in Siquijor province.
Engr. Reinhold
JekAbing, in lieu of Ronya Mae Bayan, and Eliezer Serra of DOST conducted the
activity as part of the agency’s effort to step up its program implementation
and to re-orient the OL coordinator of each sentinel schools on the 2015
School-Based OL Trap Roll-Out Program.
In an interview with
DOST Provicial Director Mario de la Pena, he said the program was supposed to
end last December 2014 but is extended this year. New supplies of
ovicidal-larvicidal(OL) pellets, ladles, and containers are to be given to each
respective school.
During the visitation,
OL coordinators were asked on the progress of the program in their respective
schools.
Some expressed minor
concerns which lead to inefficient implementation and some said they had stopped
receiving supplies of OL kits.
Others were unable to
send report through text but were later solved upon learning that the codes
used in the reporting via SMS were inappropriate. They were however advised to
send their reports as soon as possible using the recommended codes.
Asked on how
beneficial OL Trap program is to their school Ellie May Bulahan of Enrique
Villanueva Central Elementary School expressed her gratitude to the program.
She said she
attributed the decline of the number of mosquitos to the affectivity of the OL
traps citing that the school used to have cases of dengue before the
School-Based OL Trap Roll-Out was implemented.
She said she is proud
that all of her co-teachers willingly cooperate in the program implementation
and that students are participating because they saw its benefit.
In order to increase
its efficiency in gathering the information, some OL coordinators called
on their students and organized the so-called “Lamok Patrollers,” a group
of students who are tasked to determine the number of OL traps lost and those
which indicated positive or negative to possible larvae of the Aedes
mosquitoes.
In the province, six
public elementary and six high schools of the different municipalities were
identified as sentinel schools.
The schools identified
are Enrique Villanueva National High School, Enrique Villanueva Central
Elementary School, Basac High School, Larena Central Elementary School,
Campalanas National High School, Simacolong Elementary School, Candaping
National High School, Maria Central Elementary School, Catulayan National High
School, San Juan Central Elementary School, Cang-alwang National High School
and Candanay Elementary School. (mbcn/RAC/PIA7-Siquijor/with reports from Engr.
Reinhold Jek Abing/DOST-Siquijor)