The Philippines’ education secretary today admitted that the country is suffering from a serious shortage of teachers, books, and classrooms as a million new students once again walk through the nation’s school doors for the first time.
Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Leonor Briones said as much on the first day of school, when 27.2 million students trooped to public schools all over the country.
Speaking in English and Filipino, Briones told TV show Balitangtanghali: “Every year, more than a million new students enroll [in public schools]. So our need [for teachers, books, and classrooms] increase all the time.”
The DepEd said the number of new students is going up as many parents opt to transfer their children from private schools to public institutions, which are effectively free.
The shortage of classrooms is occurring in numerous places across the Philippines. At the CAA Elementary School in Las Piñas City, for example, three shifts of classes are held each day to accommodate the school’s 12,000 students, reported ABS-CBN News. There’s only one teacher for every 55 students, which, almost unbelievably, marks an improvement from the previous ratio of 1 to 77.
Dahil sa kawalan ng classroom, siyam na klase ng Don Manuel Abella Central School sa Cararayan, Naga City ay sa pavilion mag-aaral. | via @JessaMylce pic.twitter.com/hJefaREaGn
— ABS-CBN News (@ABSCBNNews) June 3, 2019
At the Don Manuel Abella Central School in Cararayan, Naga City, students held their classes inside the school pavilion, which is normally used for school events. Classrooms were divided into two at Juan Sumulong Elementary School in Antipolo City, meanwhile, as classrooms are still under construction.
Meanwhile, in a statement that appeared today on the ACT Teachers Party-List Facebook account, Representative France Castro urged President Rodrigo Duterte to increase teachers’ salaries.
“Teachers are faced with the same old problems on shortages in classrooms, facilities, and learning materials yet they continue to fulfill their duty as teachers and provide our youth with the best quality education they can give,” Castro said. “It is only just that the state compensate [for] the dedication of public school teachers with decent salaries that they have long been calling for.”
Duterte’s spokesman, Salvador Panelo, replied that the government is currently studying the possibility of increasing teachers’ salaries, ABS-CBN News reported.
Despite today’s dire picture, Briones said that the Department of Education is striving to ensure that it delivers quality education to students.
“Given our continuously increasing population and the challenges that we have to hurdle, we are likewise increasing our efforts to deliver quality, accessible, relevant, and liberating basic education,” the Manila Bulletin quoted her as saying.
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