Young asks successor to prioritize classrooms

CEBU, Philippines - As another school year starts today, Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young, outgoing chairman of Cebu City’s Committee on Education asks his successor to give priority in addressing the need for more classrooms.

Young said that this has been a perennial problem of the schools in Cebu City and the situation worsened with the implementation of the K to 12 program of the Department of Education (DepEd) and the fact that more students from private institutions have transferred to public schools.

 â€œDaghan pa gyud kaayong mga buhatonon. There is a need to study and understand the problems. Dili lang maghuwat unsay pangayuon sa DepEd. You have to prioritize things and the need for more classrooms should be prioritized,” Young, whose term ends on June 30, said.

Young said that Cebu City needs thousands of classrooms.  He explained that DepEd has a different way of assessing the number of classrooms needed as they do not include those that need to be replaced and laboratories were also counted as  classrooms.

“Dili lang kay pila ka hundreds atong kinahanglan, thousands. Wala nila apila ang gubaonon na, ang mga laboratory gikwenta as classroom. Lahi gyud ilang (DepEd) style sa pag-ihap sa mga classrooms needed,” Young said.

Young also pointed out that due to the lack of classrooms, the double sessions of  elementary schools have affected the night classes of high schools.

Young said that elementary schools have day and afternoon classes.

Afternoon sessions end at around 5 or 6 p.m. while high school night classes start at 4 p.m.

“Naapektuhan ang atong mga night high school tungod kay kuwang ta og classrooms. Huwaton pa man ni sa atong ubang night high schools nga mahuman ang afternoon session sa elementary para lang makagamit sa classroom,” Young said.

Young added that other needs like additional computers and books can wait but the need for more classrooms has to be given focus now.

“That problem on the insufficiency of classrooms is too big. Pwede man ta wala usa’y additional computers and books, but classrooms gyud ang kinahanglan i-prioritize,” Young said.

Today, most schools expect an increase in population due to students who transferred from private schools to public schools.

This is because most of the private schools in Cebu have increased tuition fees forcing parents to transfer their children to public institutions.

Guadalupe Elementary School, one of the biggest schools in the city is among those that have increased population this year.

Dr. Nestor Arandia, the principal, said that they have an increased the number of sections this year.

“We have an increased number of sections this year because there are many students coming from the private schools who transferred in our school,” Arandia said.

Now, they have 23 sections in grade 1 and grade 2 as compared last year’s 20.

From 19 last year, grade 3 already has 21 sections; grade 4 has 19 sections from 18 last year while grade five and six remain at 18 sections each level.

Arandia said that they need more classrooms to serve all their students.

He said that the Cebu City Government promised 20 classrooms for their school while the national government, through the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), will also be giving them 28 classrooms.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (PAGCOR) also pledged to donate 10 classrooms.

Arandia said DPWH has instructed them to vacate the buildings that need to be demolished since it is where the four-storey building consisting of 28 classrooms will be built.

“We were informed already that a building will be constructed but as to when, we don’t know yet.” Arandia said.

With the increase of sections, Arandia said they organize the schedule of classes and that they are ready for the start of classes today.  They have a ratio of one teacher to 50 or 60 students.

DepEd’s plan to have a ratio of one teacher to 45 students could not be implemented in his school as this would mean hiring additional teachers. — (FREEMAN)