Cotabato public schools still lack textbooks —DepEd official

KIDAPAWAN CITY — The book per student ratio in public schools remains a problem in the province of Cotabato.

Cotabato Schools Division superintendent Omar Obas said textbooks for public schools are being delivered to the province since 2016, but
"much has yet to be done to reach the perfect" book per student ratio.

Obas said that based on data in 2010, the province has a total student population of 831,404, which includes 37,761 in preschool, 453,880 in the primary level and 339,763 in high school.

He explained that the procurement of textbooks is done at the national level.

“We could not demand how many books would be distributed to North Cotabato. The control [of distribution] is with the national DepEd (Department of Education) office,” said Obas.

Obas said that aside from books coming from the DepEd main office, the  provincial government had alloted funds for learning materials for the last school year.

Classes in public schools will open in June. The DepEd on Monday launched the annual Brigada Eskuwela, where public students and teachers join hands to prepare schools for the new schoolyear.

Meanwhile, Obas said not all public school teachers for senior high school have been provided with teaching materials.

However, he said public senior high school tutors can download and print materials from the DepEd's website.

“That is just temporary. We can download these teaching guides while we’re still waiting for the reference materials to be distributed to our province,” said Obas. —Malu Cadelina Manar/ALG, GMA News