GMA appeals for help for public school woes

President Arroyo appealed to the private sector yesterday to help the national government address the projected worsening shortage of classrooms, textbooks, desks and teachers in public elementary and high schools all over the country.

The shortage is caused by the transfer of students from private schools to avail themselves of free public education.

The President issued the appeal a day after she was briefed by Secretary Edilberto de Jesus on the preparations made by the Department of Education (DepEd) for the general opening of classes on June 16.

Mrs. Arroyo admitted that the government projects the shortage problem to worsen due to the increasing number of students who transferred to public schools since their parents could no longer afford to pay the rising tuition in private schools.

"We shall address the major problems soonest and we seek the forbearance of parents and students. We ask the private sector to pitch in their effort in supplying books and facilities," she said.

The President added that "we must work together to hurdle our common problems and make sure our schools and teachers are ready for the increasing challenges of ensuring the health and education of our children."

De Jesus told the President the other day that a total of 19,529,792 elementary and high school students will start classes on Monday. Of this total, 17,254,647 students would go to public schools, while only 2,213,145 students are enrolled in private schools.

Current textbook-to-pupil ratios, depending on the grade level of the student and subject concerned, range from one textbook per student to one textbook to 1.7 students.

De Jesus said an additional 14 million textbooks, worth P616 million, would be available in July to improve the textbook-to-pupil ratio in all basic education subjects.

There is also a shortage of desks and chairs, with the DepEd providing only 9.3 million units for 12.3 million schoolchildren, De Jesus said.