Education Secretary Leonor Briones has selected to visit Signal Village National High School in

Taguig City, as a new school year started. The public school had a gleaming new building with
21 fully air-conditioned classrooms, cyber laboratory with 26 iMac computers and a “Hope
Center” for 24/7 counselling. “There is good news in education.” was her ideal message to the
public. However, this school did not reflect conditions in the rest of the country’s 47,000 public
schools, which squeezed in 23 million students. Shortage in classrooms is still a problem in
despite the Department of Education's ever-increasing yearly budget. Briones acknowledged
the shortage and attributed it to the "unavoidable increase in enrolment every year.” Meanwhile
in the Bicol region, schools had to use temporary spaces and divide classes into shifts because
of delay in the construction of new classrooms and an increase in the number of students. This
school year, the region has 1.8 million students, 2.28 percent higher than 1.7 million last year.

The Department of Education (DepEd) in Central Luzon has blamed the shift in the priorities of
the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to building roads that has caused the
delay in the completion of some 73 more classrooms in the region. “The construction (of
schools) has been rather slow because the DPWH’s priority is on roads and bridges,” said
DepEd Central Luzon regional director Beatriz Torno in a forum with the Pampanga Press Club
here. She said that because of this, many schools remain under a two-shift system wherein two
different classes are held per day, one class in the morning and another in the afternoon sharing
the same room. “At least, this is more acceptable than Metro Manila, where a room is shared by
three classes,” she said.

Briones considers to deal with this shortage by building school communities outside urban
centers and bring the children to school using buses. If not, the other alternative is to build high-
rise school buildings. These high rise school buildings would “necessitate cooperation and
generosity of local government units. There will be additional costs, and safety features,
etcetera. We would also have to think about the environment, if it's too crowded.”

For Grade 7 student Angelyn Marfil, though the tight classrooms may make it difficult to pay
attention, what's more important, she said, is getting to finish classes. “We still get to finish our
studies even if the classrooms are small. It’s good because the teachers adjust to make sure we
finish our studies.”

“If classrooms are small, students cannot learn easily because it's hot, cramped, and their focus
will waver because they are not comfortable. We really need additional rooms...we also need to
expand but there's no space left.” Bagong Silangan Filipino Head Gloria Cruz said. Angelyn
Marfil is a student that is affected by the space of the classroom, but still continues to focus on
her classes. On the other hand, not all students are like her. Students could lose their motivation
to listen and learn because of the cramped space. This is one of the reasons why education
also suffers in terms of efficiency, and the idea of Briones of public schools using buses,
wouldn’t be effective enough.

In conclusion, two or more classes are sharing a room because of the shortage of classrooms.
While DepEd are figuring out ways to solve this shortage, students are leaning in a hot cramped
place, affecting if students learn or not.
Sources:

Cervantes, D. (2019, February). DepEd blames DPWH priority shift for lack of classrooms.
Retrived from
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/02/10/1892436/deped-blames-dpwh-priority-shift-lack-
classrooms

Geronimo, J.Y. (2017, June). How DepEd plans to address PH classroom shortage. Retrived
from https://www.rappler.com/nation/172372-deped-address-ph-classroom-shortage

Tomacruz S. (2019, June). Classroom shortages greet teachers, students in opening of classes.
Retrived from
https://www.rappler.com/nation/232133-teachers-students-troop-back-school-2019-greeted-
classroom-shortage

Reysio-Cruz M. (2019, June). School opening woes: Many students, few classrooms. Retrived
from
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1177156/pyongyang-ups-pressure-against-seoul-denounces-joint-
military-exercise-with-us
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