Reevaluation of designs for DepEd buildings

THE Department of Education (DepEd) has acknowledged the need for reevaluation of building designs before constructing new classrooms to address its shortage in the country.

This, according to the agency, is to ensure disaster risk reduction in schools. The DepEd highlighted the importance of looking at details in the building designs, noting that just building these structures should always consider the ability to withstand strong winds, earthquakes and super typhoons.

While there are new school buildings every year, it is not enough to measure efforts on addressing classroom shortages in the country. Proper reevaluation of building design is needed to lessen the yearly destruction of school buildings due to calamities, the DepEd said.

In addition, the agency said that the reevaluation of school building designs should also consider the need to comply with the new normal guidelines set by the Department of Health (DOH) on the number of students in a classroom, taking note of size of classroom and distancing for students.

However, the agency would like to remind the public that the construction of school buildings is not DepEd’s sole responsibility but is also in collaboration with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

ThereisasuggestiontotransfertheimplementationoftheSchoolBuilding Program (SBP) from DPWH to DepEd to accelerate the construction of classrooms around the country, as DepEd has a bigger stake and more concern over these projects, making it the better agency to work out the immediate implementation and completion of school buildings.

DepEd had successfully implemented local- and foreign-assisted school building projects in the past through the Principal-led Scheme of School Building Construction.

The scheme provided a greater sense of project ownership by the school and the community, which strengthened project monitoring, resulting in high integrity and quality completed project, the DepEd said. In fact, it was cited for “Best Practice Award by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in 2008.

The classroom requirements for 2020 is 242,603 classrooms. This figure accounts for 110,954 classroom shortages, 85,524 replacements of classrooms scheduled for condemnation/ demolition, and 46,125 classrooms for the Last Mile Schools.

To address the classroom shortage in the next three years, DepEd proposed to lawmakers to allocate Php333 billion for 2021, Php374 billion for 2022, and Php374 billion for 2023.

The DepEd also recently issued the Re-Establishment of Minimum Performance Standards and Specifications (MPSS) using the Alternative Construction Materials for School Buildings.

In Department Order No. 006 s. 2021, the MPSS aims to drive the construction of well-designed buildings that considers anthropometrics, ergonomics, thermal comfort, illumination, ventilation, acoustics, and color; and that are compliant with the law.

The Department wants to ensure that school buildings for the succeeding years could withstand wind velocity up to 340 kilometers per hour and could resist 0.4 up to 8.0 magnitude of an earthquake.

The designers, meanwhile, must consider the Sanitary and Plumbing Standards, including the provisions of toilets and sanitary facilities under the Plumbing Code and the Sanitary Code of the Philippines.

The Education Facilities Division (EFD) of the Department, together with the Regional and Division Office, shall be in charge of the monitoring of the construction and the evaluation of the building using the alternative construction materials approved by the Central Office.

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The author is Master Teacher I at Manibaug Pasig Elementary School

Education for All (EFA) and No Child Left Behind have been the battle cry of international and local groups since the 1990s. These sustainable development goals remain a hot topic of concern of countries that put education as one of the main rights of citizens including children. These two mainly promote equal access and quality of education for everyone regardless of anything – sex, belief, ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc.

In the Philippines, the progress towards EFA is being addressed through different programs of the Department of Education. Various modes of delivery of education were created to provide an equitable education to every Filipino l ear ner.

Mobile teaching was formed to cater to learners in a distant place who are having difficulty going to formal school due to different factors like finance, transportation, health considerations, and location. The Alternative Learning System (ALS) works for the welfare of out-of-school youth who, because of various reasons, are not able to enroll and/ or graduate appropriate to their age. In ALS, learners have a flexible schedule that fits the availability of the learners. The curriculum of ALS is drawn from the basic content standards of the curriculum in regular/ formal education. After the sessions of classes, the learners will then take the Accreditation and Equivalency (A & E) Test to be able to obtain their elementary or high school diploma depending on the level of examination they will be taking. The diploma is equivalent to those obtained from formal schooling. Some divisions offer other forms of schooling like distance education through e-classroom, ALIVE for Muslim learners, and special education programs for learners with special educational needs.

Now, the DepEd is promoting inclusive education as a response to the EFA objectives. Inclusive education (IE) means that all learners must have access to quality education together with their peers. Although IE is not a new program, it remains to be a hot topic for discussion especially with the inclusive education for learners with special educational needs (LSENs) wherein it stipulates that they should be learning with the typical learners and are not always confined in a self-contained classroom.

The promotion of complete Education for All (EFA) in the country is still working progress yet it is commendable that the Department of Education is taking a step toward this paradigm shift. This change might not be easy to accept but as long as there are leaders who fight for the right of all learners for quality, access, and equality in education, the goals set will be realized.

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The author is Master Teacher I at Sulipan Elementary School, Apalit District, Division of Pampanga