DepEd reports ‘smoother, more orderly’ school opening; protesting teachers warned

Amid the usual complaint of classroom shortage and other facilities, the Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday reported that this school year’s opening is “smoother” and “more orderly” compared to previous years.

Although it was still too early to make a final assessment on the conduct of the school opening for School year 2015-2016, DepEd Assistant Secretary Jesus Mateo said, “I can predict that it [school opening] will be smoother because of the number of concerns we received are fewer this year

compared to last year.”

To ensure that the public gets the assistance it needs on the school opening for public schools, DepEd opened its “Oplan Balik Eskwela” Information and Action Center (OBE-IAC) as early as 5 a.m. at the Bulwagan ng Karunungan in DepEd Complex in Pasig City.

Biggest challenge While there are still no reports of congested classrooms, DepEd is expecting an overcrowding of students in some schools because of late enrollees.

Mateo noted that dealing with late enrollees remains the “biggest challenge” for the Department because the prepared resources might not be enough for the surge of enrollees. Overcrowding in some schools, he said, is somehow inevitable since public schools cannot turn away enrollees. “Our school heads try to plan ahead through early enrolment as early as January but sometimes there’s a surge in enrolment or late enrollees and they have to improvise,” he added.

Congestion, Mateo said, is an urban problem. “Many schools in the provinces have lower than average ratios and large campuses.” But overall, Mateo said the classroom situation in most public schools is all right.

“What we have is a distribution problem in urban areas, especially certain areas of National Capital Region (NCR),” Mateo shared.

At the Batasan Hills National High School (BHNHS) in Quezon City, the student population increased to 12,921 compared to last year’s 12,583 – an increase by 2.36 percent, according to Dr. Freddie Avendaño, Assistant Quezon City Schools Division superintendent.

The Batasan Hills National High School is the most crowded secondary school in District II, Quezon City.

Dr. Avendaño said that to accommodate the increased enrollment, they divided some rooms in the BHNHS into two using a divider board. Each room is occupied by an average of 40 students.

“The problem with NCR in particular is not an issue on funds but on buildable space…We have the budget for classrooms but no more space for new buildings,” he added.

Mateo said DepEd has successfully reduced the number of congested schools. In fact, he noted that since 2013, there are no more schools holding four-shift classes. In 2014, only 15 elementary schools and four high schools

implemented three-shift classes.

Last minute culture Despite perennial problems like the lack of classrooms and other facilities in some public schools, Mateo maintained that DepEd remains on track in solving these gaps. “As far as DepEd is concerned, we’re doing everything to make sure that the opening of classes is smooth…but because of the last minute culture that we have, we can expect these kinds of problems to arise,” he noted.

Mateo said backlog of 66,800 classrooms in 2010 have already been addressed with the construction of 66,813 classrooms by December, 2013. “There’s continuous provision of basic education inputs to address incremental enrolment, K to 12 implementation, regular wear and tear, effects of natural disasters, improvement of learning environment,” he added.

DepEd data showed that in 2014, a total of 28,934 classrooms – 19,134 for K to 10 and 9,800 for SHS – have been allocated for construction. “Meanwhile an additional 31,728 classrooms –11,728 for K to 10 requirements and 20,000 for SHS – have been proposed for construction under the 2015 budget,” he added.

As of March, 2015, Mateo said that a total of 86,478 classrooms constructed since July 2010 or five times more than the total number of classrooms constructed from 2005 to early half of 2010. “On average, DepEd has been building about 17,295 classrooms per year as compared to an average of 3,146 classrooms built in the previous years,” he added.

This SY, DepEd introduces the new curricula for Grades 4 and 10 in line with the K to 12 Program. While Mateo ensured that most of the learners’ modules (LMs) and teacher guides (TGs) have been delivered, he noted that there might be noted delays especially in hard-to-reach areas.

Protests

In Manila, the first day of classes was marred with protests from activist groups opposing the government’s K to 12 program.

Mateo reminded public school teachers joining protest actions of existing Civil Service Commission (CSC) Rules and Regulations governing teachers who leave their posts.

“Yes, they can be reprimanded if we find any violations related to the CSC rules,” Mateo added.

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) – a 30,000-strong group – and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) – considered as the largest non-traditional teachers’ organization in the Philippines with around 200,000 members and affiliates from kinder to colleges and universities – staged mass actions in different venues on the first day of school.

ACT members started a series of protests as early as 6 a.m. at the Batasan National High School in Quezon City. This was followed by a 7 a.m. rally at the Manila Science High School, a 10:00 a.m. mass action at the DepEd Central Office in Pasig City and a 3:00 p.m. mobilization in Morayta to Mendiola in Manila.

“This is to protest against K to 12, call to government to address the shortages in basic education and for the immediate salary increase of teachers,” said ACT National Chairperson Benjie Valbuena.

Aside from opposing the K to 12, ACT and children’s rights and education advocacy group Save our Schools Network (SOS Net) also condemned DepEd for “colluding with military and threatening to shut down” Lumad community schools in Davao Del Norte.

Members of Anti-K-to-12 Alliance also mounted a signature campaign outside Araullo high school in an effort to stop the implementation of the program which they described as an ‘express train to labor export of youths. The group later joined the multi-sectoral protest against K to 12 that marched from UST España to Mendiola in the afternoon.