DepEd official blames lack of comfort rooms for students' low scores in examinations

CEBU, Philippines- The Talisay City Department of Education (DepEd) Division superintendent suspects that lack of comfort rooms available in public schools could have been one of the reasons why students fared badly in the last regional and national academic examinations.

Woodrow Denuyo, DepEd-Talisay City Division Superintendent, said the scores made by the students in the last regional and national tests were low and attributes the dismal outcome to the time students spend looking for comfort rooms and therefore miss a fraction of the lessons.  

He said some students go home if they couldn't find clean rest rooms, which is the case in most public schools.

Denuyo however said that since that problem has already been identified, the DepEd is now looking for ways to address it.

Some schools, such as the Talisay City Central School, have comfort rooms inside classrooms.

Although these comfort rooms are reserved for teachers, students can use these for peeing.

The lack of classrooms and chairs is also another thing, said Denuyo.

Talisay may have 24 elementary schools and 18 national high schools, but the number is not enough to hold the increasing number of students every year.

Due to the large student population, a classroom supposedly for 45 heads has to accommodate 15 more.

This setup has been going on for years. In some areas in Talisay however, which just have more students and no more space to build additional school buildings, the DepEd has implemented the shifting schedule wherein two classes, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, share one room, said Denuyo.

Denuyo said these problems are common in almost all public schools all over the country.