Classroom shortage down to 40K: DepEd

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THE Department of Education yesterday said various short-term interventions have lowered the classroom shortage in the country this school year from around 91,000 to about 40,000.

DepEd spokesperson Michael Tan Poa said the short-term interventions included shifting of class schedules and blended learning, as well as construction of temporary learning spaces

“With the strategies implemented by most of our schools, we have lowered the classroom shortage to about 40,000,” Poa told ABS-CBN News Channel yesterday.

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The DepEd also said the widely circulated photos of students seated on the floor of a classroom at the Jose Abad Santos High School in Manila during Monday’s opening of classes did not mean a shortage of chairs and tables, adding the students were doing “psychosocial activities.”

In a statement, the Division of City Schools Manila said there are enough chairs and tables in the school, adding it has 3,179 chairs or an average of 51 chairs per classroom.

“These chairs are more than enough to accommodate the enrolled learners,” the statement said.

Poa admitted, however, that in the long run DepEd will need to construct more classrooms to address the shortage.

He said DepEd has proposed a P86.5 billion budget for 2023 for the construction of classrooms, good for 34,551 schools nationwide.

“The amount that we are proposing is something that we think is doable. We’re not trying to propose something that we cannot do in a year,” Poa said, adding they are still negotiating the amount with the Department of Budget and Management.

DepEd Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III told the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture last August 10 that the department lacks around 91,000 classrooms for schoolyear 2022-2023.

The department earlier said there are areas in Metro Manila and Calabarzon that have student-classroom ratios of 68:1.

Poa said they are moving to address the lack of classrooms, adding: “We had a meeting with regional directors to map all those resource gaps in terms of classrooms. As you can see, in most areas of the country we have shifting schedules and blended learning.”

Poa said some schools are implementing in-person classes for three days a week while the remaining two days are for blended learning and vice versa.

“These are short-term interventions and there are cases in which schools implement a one whole week in-person classes and another week for blended learning,” he explained.

Despite the classroom shortage, Poa said the first day of classes was “very orderly” and “very peaceful.”

Last Monday, Vice President and DepEd Secretary Sara Duterte described the return of students to schools after more than two years of blended learning as a “big victory” for Philippine education.

Poa also explained that when the DepEd decided to go ahead with the opening of classes, it didn’t mean that there was no more problem left to address.

“We were anticipating these challenges but we are Filipinos, we are resilient and we will overcome all these,’ he added.

Meanwhile, data from the DepEd Learner Information System showed the number of enrollees has breached the 28.6 million target this school year. The data showed that as of August 23, there were 28,797,660 students nationwide.

Calabarzon remained the region with the highest number of enrollees at 3,944,335, followed by Central Luzon and National Capital Region with 2,972,066 and 2,762,592, respectively.

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The enrollment period which started last July 25 ended last August 22.

MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION

Poa also said Duterte is open to returning the medium of instruction to English and Filipino instead of the students’ mother tongue for primary students.

However, Poa said the issue is still subject to discussion with experts.

“Yes, that’s the direction to be taken. But, again subject to discussion with experts but that’s the direction that we want to go back to English and Filipino as the medium of instruction,” Poa told ABS-CBN News Channel.

Under the K to 12 law, the mother tongue is being used as the medium of instruction from kindergarten until Grade 3.

Last month, Densing questioned the effectiveness of the policy in the face of the result of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in which Filipino students fared badly compared to their counterparts from 79 other countries in reading comprehension.

Filipino students also scored second-lowest in both mathematical and scientific literacy.

Poa said before the opening of classes, Jose Abad Santos High School had insufficient number of chairs and tables but that was resolved during the conduct of the Brigada Eskwela or the National Schools Maintenance Week.

The Brigada Eskwela does not accept cash donations. What it solicits are cleaning and repair materials, other non-cash assistance and community volunteers who paint the classroom, repair chairs and tables, leaking roofs and faucets, cement walkways, spruce up the garden and surroundings in preparation for the opening of classes.

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