Caloocan schools shorten schooldays

A serious lack of classrooms in at least two public schools in Caloocan City has pushed local school authorities to further shorten schooldays and increase the number of shifts per day, Teachers for Dignity Coalition(TDC) officials based in Caloocan said yesterday.

The Kalayaan Elementary School (North 2) Bagong Silang, to accommodate more than 1,000 first-graders – divided into 21 sections of at least 47 students – is holding four three-hour schooldays instead of the usual three shifts per day.

The first-graders are forced to go through all five subjects (English, Math, Pilipino, Makabayan or social studies and Edukasyon sa Kaasalan at Wastong Pag-uugali or what used to be known as the good manners and right conduct course) in three hours.

The classes are held from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 9 a.m. to 12 noon for the morning session and from 12 noon to 3 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. for the afternoon session.

Placer Eduarte, TDC officer and a teacher at the school, said in an interview with The STAR yesterday that the teachers hold classes just about anywhere, including the library, the school canteen, and makeshift lean-tos.

“The very short hours adversely affects output since learning is meager. Skills development is compromised after lessons are taught. There is simply not enough time for these lessons to sink in their minds,” Eduarte said.

Eduarte, who teaches fourth-graders, said the students simply engage in rote memorization and, when English is the medium of instruction, “they sit there and simply look at you. They say the words after you but there is absolutely no comprehension. It’s when you use Filipino that they act or answer you.”

Eduarte said the situation sends the students a strong negative message that learning or going to school is not fun at all.

Though a three-story building is under construction at the school compound, “we are told there will only be two classrooms on every floor. This will certainly not be enough for 26 sections,” Eduarte said.

Three-hour schooldays ‘temporary’

Assistant principal Ferdinand de Guzman admitted they have now have four three-hour schooldays due to a shortage of classrooms, but this arrangement is only temporary.

De Guzman told The STAR yesterday the new three-story building will have three classrooms on every floor. He added that the first three classrooms will be ready by next week. By the time the building is finished, he said they will revert to having three shifts per day. 

Eduarte also said the school also has no faculty room for its 149 teachers, including De Guzman and school principal Ernesto Mirabel and three members of the local school board. 

De Guzman, however, said they do not need a faculty room anymore as the teachers already have a service area “in the corners” of certain rooms.

Eduarte added that there are only two toilets for every 2,000 students. The school has a student population of some 6,600. Water is also a problem since the taps only flow at night up to around 9 a.m. “Who needs the water at night?” she asked.

Eduarte said a supervisor of the National Capital Region monitoring office scolded local school officials sometime in June. She remembers the same official saying that the problem must not be aired by the media.

Eduarte said the monitoring officials worried more about getting scolded by President Arroyo if the problem gets to the media than by providing solutions to the problem at hand.

Aside from her school, Eduarte said at least another one, Silanganan Elementary School in Phase 3B Bagong Silang, is also in the same straits. Sources said other schools in Caloocan City may also be suffering from the same problems.