ABSTRACT
This study determined the status of the school paper of the public elementary schools of Malvar District as assessed by the school heads, teachers and editorial board of public elementary schools of Malvar District. The descriptive research was utilized wherein survey questionnaire was used as primary source of data as provided by 16 school heads, 50 teachers, and 91 editorial board students. This study also dealt with the attainment of the functions of the school paper. There was a test of significant difference between the three group of respondents and the four criteria of school paper such as integrity, accuracy, responsibility and leadership. There was also a test of the extent of functions of school paper as aid to the students, aid to the school and aid to the community as well as significant relationship between the status of the school paper and its functions. The results became the basis of an Action Plan attaching the proposed training design on how to enhance the school papers' performance.
From the findings, the status of the school paper of Malvar District in terms of integrity, accuracy, leadership and responsibility have general composite assessment of 3.94, 3.91, 3.91 and 3.90 and interpreted as Highly Manifested. This means that all the four criteria of the school paper were all highly manifested. Meanwhile, there is significant difference on the integrity and accuracy, while there is no significant difference on responsibility and leadership. It can be glanced that the results figured out that the integrity and accuracy were interrelated and can be used interchangeably. However, for the test of extent of functions of school paper as aid to the students, aid to the school and aid to the community, the results were all highly functional. This means that the school paper attains its real functions but in the test of significant relationship between the status of the school paper and its functions, there is only significant relationship between status of school paper under the criteria of responsibility and function as aid to school. As shown in their probability value of .012, is less than the level of significance at .05. On the other hand, there is no significant relationship between the status of the school paper under the criteria of integrity, accuracy and leadership and functions as aid to students and community. The probability values are all greater than the level of significance. It implies that school paper has responsibilities to the school such as to publish news, to make known its achievements, to provide an outlet for students’ suggestions and to become a tool for communication which can lead to the betterment of the school. Therefore, school paper being the voice and heart of the school can only take responsibility over decisions concerning the school and vice versa. Meanwhile, the school may also take responsibility in the improvement of school paper’s performance in the higher level of competition which is mandated by the Special Journalism Program of 2009. This study proposes Action Plan with attach Training Design.
Keywords: Campus Journalism, School Paper, Status, Functions
INTRODUCTION
The Press plays an important role in the campaign to communicate with the masses. It serves as the major element in bringing out the voice in a certain issue which needs to be understood and made a definite stand relevant to the issue presented. Press can be presented into different forms of media. These are broadcast media and written or print media which are all intended to communicate facts, ideas, and thoughts for the betterment of the society. It is really important to disseminate information from one person to another specially in school where school head, teachers and pupils need one tool for communication.
Freedom of the Press has been guaranteed in the Philippine Constitution since the country gained the independence from the United States in 1946. The 1987 constitution sets forth the guarantee in Section 4, Article III (Bill of Rights) which states that:
“No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech of expression or
of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.
This law is the basis of every institution to have its press which amended by the law. Every school intends to have its own press. The campus press or school paper is designed to inform the students the target facts from its head into their heads. It is in written form with a standing – write not just to impress but to express (The Laser, Newspaper’s Lament 2007).
The Memorandum No. 457, S. 2008, implemented by the Department of Education encourages every school both private and public to come up with an official school publication. The school administrator should implement this memorandum. Selected teacher/s are assigned to be the school paper adviser/s and some students are trained to be young writers representing the editorial board. The editorial board students are sent to some seminars and workshops to enhance their journalistic skills for the benefit of the school paper. The school paper which serves as the heart of the institution also serves as the vital tool for the development of the school not only for the school personnel but also for the students.
In connection with this, UP Professor and Dean of Journalism Department, Danilo Arao stated that it is the policy of the state to uphold and protect the freedom of the press even at the school level. Mavodza (2017) said in a national perspective that school paper has become a major tool for communication to the pupils, and the community. Thus, this brings bright future with the new provision of Republic Act 7079 known as Campus Journalism Act of 1991 which aims to promote development and growth of campus journalism as means of strengthening ethical values, encouraging critical and creative thinking and developing good moral character and personal discipline of the Filipino youth.
In compliance with this Republic Act, all public elementary schools in the District of Malvar have their own school papers. The school paper is collaboratively done by the teacher adviser and the editorial board. To further understand, all schools are scheduled to issue school paper once or twice in every school year. The yearly district competition every August or September signals the start of releasing school paper. It is for the reason that the division rules of the competition are “No school paper, no pupil contestant” policy.
In line with this, the researcher found out that the school paper from different schools within Malvar District never received any awards or citations from the higher level of competition for the past ten years. On the contrary, there were schools from different districts that won in the higher level of competition almost yearly. As a school paper adviser, the researcher thinks that there is a need to have a clear understanding and reliable information on the status of the school paper that circulates from the schools, read by the school personnel, teachers and the people of the community and submitted in the higher level of competition wherein Malvar District had never won for the past ten years. This prompted the researcher to investigate the status of the school paper and the attainment of its function as aid to the pupils, aid to the school and aid to the community.
The researcher is one of the members of the editorial board (managing editor) of The LASER, the official school publication of Batangas State University Malvar Campus during her tertiary years. Today, she is one of the school paper advisers from Miguel Aranda Memorial Elementary School, an elementary school from Malvar District. She has been collaboratively making and issuing school paper right from the start of her teaching career. The researcher aims to assess the status of the school paper using the criteria as cited by Cruz (1997) after the formulation and creation of the Campus Journalism Act of 1991 and at the same time, the researcher also wants to assess the attainment of the functions of the school paper for its continuous improvement.
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