The Philippines still faces a shortage of 165,000 classrooms, Education Secretary Sonny Angara recently disclosed. “The deficit has been growing. Twelve years ago, the deficit was 55,000 classrooms. Now it’s 165,000. We really can’t keep up. That is a factor of population growth,” he said.
To address the massive gap, the Department of Education is working to revive the Public-Private-Partnership program which had previously facilitated the construction of 12,000 to 15,000 classrooms. Under the arrangement, classrooms would be built promptly, with payments spread over 10 years.
The DepEd chief also noted that double and triple class shifting continues to plague public schools. “That’s the problem. It is not only the double shifting. In fact, there is also triple shifting. We have areas where the children do not go to school because they have no classrooms, forcing them to stay at home,” he said.
Another strategy of the DepEd is to improve internet connectivity, which could enable senior high school students, whom Angara described as “independent learners,” to study from home. That would free up classroom space for younger learners who require in-person instruction.
There is also the hiring of 16,000 new teachers this year, which would help improve student-teacher ratios, especially in kindergarten and high school levels.
Facing so many shortages of essential resources for learning, the country’s educational system and education department has a lot of catching up to do. If the dream is a world class education that will allow Filipino youth to be competitive on the international stage, we will certainly need all the help we can get, as soon as possible.*
