As the school year (SY) 2019-2020 officially opens in all public schools June 3, the “same old problems” are expected to greet at least 23 million learners who will be trooping back to their respective schools nationwide.
Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones is scheduled to visit the Signal Village National High School in Taguig City to personally monitor the opening of classes. She is also expected to visit the Comembo Elementary School in Makati City as part of the school opening activities.
In a phone interview with the Manila Bulletin, Vibar shared that her school had around 2,500 pupils from Kinder to Grade 6 for this SY. While the construction of a new school building is on-going, she noted that the facilities – particularly the classrooms – will not be enough. Aside from shortages in facilities, Vibar observed that one of the most recurring challenges that teachers face was the lack of enough funds for schools. “While there is Brigada Eskwela, the donations from the stakeholders are not sustained that is why the teachers are forced to shoulder additional expenses for classroom maintenance and repair,” she said.
For instance, some students and teachers in public schools in Regions 1 and 6 are “cramped in makeshift classrooms” made out of galvanized iron sheets while those in Region 5, “they hold classes in nipa huts.” Schools that were struck by typhoon “Yolanda” in Region 8 have also “been holding all their classes in plywood classrooms” since 2014.
Aside from lack of classrooms and other facilities, ACT also received reports of lacking instructional materials and other resources such as books from Elementary to SHS, instructional materials for SHS students, as well as Information and Technology equipment. This is why Locara could not help but be thankful to the private sector that helps the public schools. This year, Telus International Philippines has chosen the school to be its beneficiary for its “Days of Giving” Program. Despite the criticisms hurled at the “Brigada Eskwela,” he could not imagine not holding it.
For Teachers’ Dignity Coalition Secretary General Emmalyn Policarpio said that public schools might still be reeling from the shortages of facilities and other basic education resources. Current available data from DepEd showed that the construction of 66,050 classrooms is still ongoing. Ideally, Sevilla said these should be completed before the school year opens. However, due to some issues, these are expected to be completed within the year – which means that thousands of classrooms that the students should be using remain uncompleted.
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