Schools reopened their doors after a two-year lockdown to welcome millions of Filipino

students who had suffered from learning loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This
reopening of doors has resurfaced in the issue of school facility shortages. School facilities can
be defined as those things that enable the teacher to do her work very well and help the learners
learn effectively. I believe that the quality of education also depends on school facilities and
instructional materials. As our education journey continues, we really see how our government
addresses problems related to our education. I realized that there are still many educational issues
we have, and it's disappointing that a lot of them were not properly addressed.

As we can see in our schools now, there are many broken chairs, broken tables, not
enough buildings, students who do not have proper classrooms, and broken windows. These
classroom shortages have been a problem even before the pandemic. According to the latest data
from Philstar, schools nationwide would need around 37,000 classrooms to address the
classroom shortage, and around 3,030 classrooms would be needed for reconstruction. The
learners might suffers from growing classroom shortage in the coming years if the government
will not allocate sufficient funds to fix the facilities. These are just evidence of how weak our
administration is at addressing these different educational issues. I am not against the current
administration, but I am just stating the fact that they do not have a solid long-term plan on how
to solve the lack of facilities in schools.

Also, the prevalent lack of instructional materials for schools has been criticized by the
public. Millions of students are stuck with poor-quality learning materials. Students can’t have
proper learning since they do not have learning materials to use. The Alliance of Concerned
Teachers (ACT) cited reports about "grave deficiencies in available learning materials," saying
that there are textbooks kept in storage that were damaged by floods and by termites. Some
learning materials did not reach far-flung areas. They added that there is also inconsistency in the
distribution of learning materials. I have experienced this kind of situation wherein, even until
now, I haven’t had adequate learning instructional materials to sustain my learning needs, which
supposedly the government must provide but they have failed to do so. Millions of students
deserve this material, but why can't our leaders provide it? Again, this just supports the fact that
our education secretary is obsolete.

The proposed 2023 national budget for the DEPED budget is now at P710 billion. And
the issue in the confidential fund was worth P50 million. Risa Hontiveros stated that "there is no
need to add 50 million for the intelligence fund because we have different agencies working with
the protection of our agency and children." Instead of allowing funds for confidential purposes,
why not just allocate them to the capital outlays of our department or to special funds that aim to
provide resources for schools or just realign the 50 million to school maintenance and other
operating expenses (MOOE)? Why must the department that specializes in education have such
confidential funds? Furthermore, funds set aside for the construction of facilities and buildings
have not been used properly or efficiently in recent years. There were many high cost school
buildings, but the quality was poor. For instance, in our school, Bambang National High School,
the new building there, particularly the one where we learn, has a lot of cracks and deficiencies,
even though it was established not so long ago.
 If the government wants their students to be globally competitive, why they can’t they
provide us with proper facilitites? If the government wants to improve our ranking in global
education why can’t they provide quality chairs for its students? Why do they push for House bill
4500 or the Mandatory Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) if they cannot even provide
adequate facilities for the students? To emphasize, the government must ensure first the wellness
of the students in their schools if they want to improve our education system. The government
should do something about this because these students have the right to have this well-
maintained school facilities and education is very important. 

According to Gamefied, the quality of school facilities affects students in two ways.
Firstly, a lack of facilities limits a student's ability to achieve various learning and extracurricular
activities. Secondly, a lack of facilities has a negative impact on a teacher's job satisfaction,
which undermines their motivation to teach. Also, overcrowded classrooms can also impact
student engagement, leading to decreased levels of learning. A lack of instructional
materials can make it impossible for students to learn the most important skills required in
school. They would be unable to prepare for the real world if they weren't able to meet these
competencies.

To summarize, it is true that a lack of school facilities is a critical issue affecting millions
of students in our country, which is why our current administration must prioritize improving
school facilities for our education. The school facility is much more than a passive container of
the educational process; it is, rather, an integral component of the conditions of learning. Our
leaders must be able to realize how important school facilities are to students' learning. That’s
why the government needs to allocate more funds to fix the facilities and address the growing
classroom shortage. They must ensure that all the funds for the construction and for learning
materials are utilized efficiently. Lastly, I believe that a better education results in a better
school environment, which leads to a better future.
 
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