Schools lacking 722 classrooms

IT’S ALMOST JUNE BUT…

The Department of Education-Cebu City Division has lobbied for a P1.5-billion budget in anticipation of the full implementation of the K to 12 Program next school year.

This as Danilo Gudelosao, DepEd Cebu City division education program supervisor, said that 722 additional classrooms worth P577.6 million are still needed to accommodate over 200,000 students who will take up their first year of senior high school.

The north district needs 132 classrooms for SHS, 32 for kinder, 60 for elementary and five for secondary. The south district, meanwhile, needs 160 classrooms for SHS, 53 for kinder, 233 for elementary and 47 for secondary.

This will demand the hiring of 965 teachers; 137 for kinder, 165 for elementary, 222 for secondary and 441 for SHS, which will cost the DepEd P275.3 million.

Also, P287.7 million is needed to repair 1,046 public classrooms in the city as part of the provision and maintenance of basic education facilities.

Based on the records of DepEd, there are 251 elementary and 80 secondary classrooms in the North District; and 477 elementary and 238 secondary classrooms in the South District that need repair.

For school seats, DepEd projected to procure 37,027 seats, including 2,538 for kinder students, 20,159 for elementary stu- dents, 1,877 secondary students and 12,453 for SHS students, totaling P36.3 million.

There are 122 public elementary and high schools in the city, including 68 elementary schools and 54 high schools.

Of the P36.3 million, P1.14 million will be allotted for the purchase of 722 tables and chairs for 965 additional teachers.

A part of the proposed amount goes to textbook and instructional support materials of 229,229 schools, 135,377 for elementary and 93,852 for secondary.

The computerization program for 201 classrooms in both north and south districts will also get a share at P16.1 million.

Apart from these, DepEd needs the support of the national government to sustain and enhance its health and nutrition services for 16,757 classrooms pegged at P60.33 million; and water and sanitation at P16.3 million for 272 classrooms.

For DepEd’s developmental services, like the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Program requires P121.94 million for educational service contracting and education voucher system and P3.9 million for teacher salary subsidy.

GASTPE-ESC are composed of are graduates of public elementary schools who pursued their secondary education in private schools.

While the City Development Council infra committee already approved the amount last week, the budget proposal is seen to follow a long and tedious process.

Even as June approaches, Gudelosao said they still intend to build classrooms by phase given the limited funds.

The proposal was endorsed to the CDC full council for its perusal. If approved by the CDC full council, the proposal will be endorsed to the City Council for approval then to the Regional Development Council, which would either turn it down or endorse it to the national government for funding. The CDC full council will convene at the Cebu City Hall Legislative Building social hall on April 13 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

REVIEW

Ronald “Raddy” Diola, head of the Local School Board, said during the CDC infrastructure committee council meeting last week that there is a need to revisit the structural design of public schools. He said DepEd is still following the one- to two-story build that has narrow classrooms, hallways and stairways.

“With the K to 12 Program, building design should be capable of expanding vertically owing to limited spaces,” he said.

He said it is vital to redesign the master plan for the 150 public primary and secondary schools in the city, implementing a standard four-story building design for classrooms.

Diola said he will visit the DepEd head office today to lobby for a standard fourstory school building, which has 20 classrooms, costs P26,000 million and can be built on a 500-square meter lot.

With the old design, he said it costs at least P800,000 to build a classroom compared to their proposal ranging from P1.2 million to P1.3 million but with bigger and spacious facilities and rooms.

Based on the proposed design, the building will have classrooms that have an area of 63 square-meters each, four-meter stairways (from 1.5 meter), wider hallways, and an open space at the roof deck that would serve as an activity center, among others.

Letecia Canoy, vice chairwoman of CDC full council, advised Diola to present his proposal to the council.

“It has to be endorsed to RDC for the members’ respective review and interaction before it will be forwarded to the national office,” she said.

Last week’s sectoral meeting was concluded to tackle and approve the proposed environmental, social and economic projects for Cebu City, including the special program of DepEd.

PROGRAM

The K to12 program will add two more years to kindergarten and basic education. In all there will be six years of primary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school. It is designed to provide sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment and entrepreneurship.

Senior high school means two years of specialized upper secondary education wherein students can choose a specialization based on aptitude, interests, and school capacity.

The choice of career track will define the content of the subjects a student will take in Grades 11 and 12. SHS subjects fall under either the core curriculum or specific tracks, such as are Languages, Literature, Communication, Mathematics, Philosophy, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences.

Current content from some General Education subjects are embedded in the SHS curriculum.