Lack of classrooms, teachers among challenges faced on school opening day

A shortage in classrooms and lack of teachers were among the challenges faced by several schools as classes for School Year 2022-2023 opened on Monday.

At the Batasan Hills National High School in Quezon City, classes were divided into two shifts — from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m.; and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. — to cater to their over 19,500 students, according to a report by James Agustin on GMA News' Unang Balita.

Partitions were also installed in several classrooms to halve them into two to address the classroom shortage.

Department of Education (DepEd) spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa earlier said there is a shortage of classrooms in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Calabarzon due to the high number of students.

Due to this, he said schools have to implement double or triple shifts, and blended learning to address the overcrowding of students in each classroom.

Meanwhile, Bagong Silang Elementary School principal Dr. Ofelia Naguit said some of their classrooms were broken, but were eventually fixed with the help of Brigada Eskwela.

“Actually, meron talagang [nasira pero] minimal naman, hindi major. Maraming mga nasira but it was solved sa tulong ng pagbi-Brigada Eskwela namin,” she said in a report by Ivan Mayrina on Unang Balita.

(Actually, many of the classrooms needed minimal repairs, but it was solved through our Brigada Eskwela.)

Naguit said that only their Grade 1 students, of all the 6,500 enrollees, need to implement shifting of classes. More teachers were also hired to accommodate the increased number of students.

Thousands of students with their parents flock to Bagong Silang Elementary School in Caloocan on the first day of face to face classes today. 6,500 students are currently enrolled here this SY. | via @marizumali pic.twitter.com/rOJQ08tMZ6

— GMA News Breaking (@gmanewsbreaking) August 22, 2022

Classroom shortage was also a problem at the Negros Occidental High School (NOHS) which now houses 8,500 enrollees, according to a report on Unang Balita by Adrian Prietos of GMA Regional TV Bacolod.

Due to this, school administrators decided to hold face-to-face classes for two and a half days per week only in some grade levels.

The number of students per section will also be limited to 50.

NOHS Principal IV Josette Terrora said they had to stop the enrollment in other tracks as they also have a shortage in teachers.

“Patuloy lang kasi ang pag-accommodate namin dito. Kawawa din kasi ang other schools. Ang ibang tracks, pina-stop na namin dahil kulang na kami ng teachers,” she added.

(We continued to accommodate students here as the other schools were also having a hard time. We have stopped enrollment in other tracks because we don't have enough teachers.)

Due to Tropical Depression Florita, a school in Bantay, Ilocos Sur was flooded due to lack of a proper sewerage system.

Classroom sharing in San Emilio East in Ilocos Sur is also being considered as several classrooms were destroyed by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that hit Abra. Their covered court will also be used as a temporary learning space.

Meanwhile, five classrooms in Masin Elementary School in Candelaria, Quezon were unavailable due to broken windows, ceilings being infested by termites, and power outage.

While waiting for their new school building to be finished by November, several teachers have to use their campus gym and corridors as temporary faculty rooms.

In Manila, students of Esteban Abad High School (EAHS) would only hold classes from 7 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., as by 1 p.m., some students of the Ramon Magsaysay High School (RMHS) will be using the EAHS for their own classes.

A report by Jonathan Andal on Unang Balita said RMHS was demolished to pave the way for a new and bigger school building with 10 floors and 232 classrooms.

With this, EAHS has to limit their classes to only 45 minutes as compared to the usual one hour to accommodate students from RMHS.

DepEd vows to address classroom shortage

In a press conference on Monday, Poa acknowledged the lack of classrooms in certain areas but said the DepEd is “very determined” to address this issue.

“We all know na pre-pandemic pa lang, talagang may shortage na tayo ng classrooms. Right now, ang ginagawa natin temporarily is ‘yung shifting schedules pa rin… Another strategy is ‘yung blended learning,” he said.

(We all know that even before the pandemic, we already have a shortage of classrooms. Right now, what we are doing temporarily is still shifting schedules and blended learning.)

“But of course, in the long run, we really need to address that and that is something that this administration is looking to address,” he added.

Poa noted that for DepEd’s budget for next year, they have proposed to include funds for the reconstruction and repairs of schools and classrooms.

“I think we proposed around P86 billion for new classrooms and construction or repairs. That number is something we proposed because we think it’s doable,” he said.

He earlier said the DepEd needs of at least P18 billion to repair the schools damaged by recent natural disasters such as Typhoon Odette and Tropical Storm Agaton, and the magnitude 7 earthquake in Abra.

Poa on Monday morning said no major challenges encountered in schools during the start of the first day of in-person classes were reported so far.

He also believes that the opening of School Year 2022-2023 was peaceful and safe. —KG/KBK, GMA News