THE DEPARTMENT of Education (DepEd) will prioritize the renovation of damaged school buildings this year, with the lack of facilities considered as a major handicap to the country’s education system, the education secretary said on Monday.
“The lack of school infrastructure and school resources to support the ideal teaching process is the most pressing issue pounding the Filipino basic education,” Vice-President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio said during the presentation of DepEd’s basic education report streamed live on Facebook.
She said out of the 327,851 school buildings in the country, 89,252 buildings need major repairs from calamities, while 100,072 require minor repairs.
These repairs would cost the government P9.82 billion.
Ms. Duterte noted that DepED has allocated P15.6 billion for the overall renovation works this year.
Also on Monday, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian released the results of a Pulse Asia survey he commissioned indicating that more than half of Filipinos believe that the DepEd should prioritize addressing the classroom shortage in the country.
The survey, conducted from Sept. 17 to 21, showed 52% of 1,200 respondents believe that the lack of classrooms should be immediately addressed.
Mr. Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Basic Education Committee, said other concerns included lack of school learning materials and teachers. Some respondents also mentioned the need for quality education.
Other concerns cited were drug testing of students, low pay of teachers, medium of instruction being used, errors in textbooks, and competence of teachers.
According to the 2019 National School Building Inventory, the Philippines has a shortage of 167,901 classrooms.
Mr. Gatchalian noted that P420 billion is needed to fill the nationwide classroom gap.
QUALITY OF EDUCATION
“Although adequate classrooms are a priority for most of our countrymen, we will make sure that we also address the other deficiencies we face, especially when it comes to the quality of education,” the senator said.
DepED is working on a public school curriculum that will focus on foundational skills such as reading, science and technology, and math to help students get jobs after completing primary and secondary education, according to the report.
President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. acknowledged at the same event the problems beleaguering the Philippine education system.
“We will also invest in our learners by giving them the right tools and mechanisms that they need in their day-to-day schooling,” he said.
Ms. Duterte said DepED will provide more professional development programs for teachers, including graduate degree scholarships that focus on their specializations.
“We know that the road will be bumpy, but our direction is clear. We know that the challenges are vast but we, Filipinos, are resilient,” Ms. Duterte said. — John Victor D. Ordonez and Alyssa Nicole O. Tan