Construction of additional school buildings, classrooms a 'top priority': DepEd

Jaehwa Bernardo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Classes begin at the Payatas B Elementary School in Quezon City on the first day of face-to-face classes in all levels, August 22, 2022. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/tvpatrol/09/08/20220822-school-opening-payatas-qc-md-49.jpg"/><figcaption>Classes begin at the Payatas B Elementary School in Quezon City on the first day of face-to-face classes in all levels, August 22, 2022. <em>Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — The Department of Education assured Thursday it would prioritize the construction of more school buildings and classrooms as overcrowding remained a problem at the start of the new school year.</p><p>&quot;That is a top priority of this administration. Gusto nating magpatayo ng more school buildings, classrooms, as well as supply enough school furniture for our learners and teachers,&quot; DepEd Spokesperson Michael Poa said in a press conference.</p><p>(That is a top priority of this administration. We want to build more school buildings and classrooms as well as supply enough school furniture for our learners and teachers.)</p><p>Poa was reacting to a statement issued Wednesday by the Teachers&#x27; Dignity Coalition (TDC), which reiterated its demand for the DepEd to prioritize the construction of classrooms and hiring of teachers.</p><p>&quot;Nakita naman po natin nitong first 3 weeks pa lang ng pasukan talagang problemado na ang ating mga paaralan. Maraming kulang na classrooms at kung sapat man ang classroom, wala namang teachers to handle classes,&quot; TDC Chairperson Benjo Basas, a high school teacher in Caloocan City, said in a statement.</p><p>(We saw in the first 3 weeks of classes that our schools are still dealing with problems. We still lack a lot of classrooms and if there&#x27;s sufficient classrooms, there aren&#x27;t enough teachers to handle classes.)</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/22/22/cramped-classrooms-seen-on-1st-day-of-in-person-classes">&#x27;Cramped&#x27; classrooms seen on 1st day of in-person classes</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/29/22/shifting-ipinatutupad-sa-mga-eskuwelahan-dahil-sa-kakulangan-ng-classroom">Shifting ipinatutupad sa mga eskuwelahan dahil sa kakulangan ng classroom</a></li></ul><p>Poa said the DepEd has asked Congress for a higher budget to construct school buildings, repair classrooms and provide sufficient school furniture.</p><p>&quot;But we have to remind the general public na gusto man nating matapos iyan sa isang taon (that even though we want to accomplish this in a year), that will not be realistic,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;Because we have budget constraints and we have to consider the absorptive capacity of [Department of Public Works and Highways] in putting up these school buildings,&quot; he added.</p><div><strong>Teachers</strong></div><p>To quickly address the shortage of teachers in some schools, the DepEd is allowing the transfer of educators from schools with excess staff, Poa explained.</p><p>&quot;Ang pinakamabilis na intervention na ginagawa ay doon sa schools with excess teaching staff, subject to rules on transfer, we transfer these teachers doon sa may kakulangan,&quot; he said.</p><p>(The fastest intervention we&#x27;re doing is transferring teachers from schools with excess teaching staff to schools that are short on teachers, subject to rules on transfer.)</p><p>The DepEd has issued a memorandum reminding field offices to fill vacant teaching items to ensure that schools have an adequate workforce.</p><p>The agency is also looking at hiring about 10,000 new teachers next year, depending on the budget.</p><p>&quot;For next year, we are also looking, as per our budget, to hire more teachers dahil naintindihan natin na may situwasyon na loaded talaga ang ating teachers and that&#x27;s something we are bent on resolving,&quot; Poa said.</p><p>(For next year, we are also looking, as per our budget, to hire more teachers because we understand the situation that our teachers are loaded with work and that&#x27;s something we are bent on resolving.)</p><p>Education officials earlier said there is a shortage of around 91,000 classrooms but the figure was halved as schools implemented shifting and blended learning at the start of School Year 2022-2023.</p><p>But schools will only be allowed to implement distance and blended learning until late October after the DepEd ordered the resumption of 5 days of in-person classes by November 2.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe __idm_id__="33366017" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2199163" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The Department of Education assured it would prioritize the construction of more school buildings and classrooms as overcrowding remained a problem.

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Construction of additional school buildings, classrooms a 'top priority': DepEd

Jaehwa Bernardo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Sep 08, 2022 01:56 PM PHT

Read More:

education

basic education

classroom shortage

classroom congestion

overcrowding

Department of Education

teachers

Teachers' Dignity Coalition

School Year 2022-2023

face-to-face classes

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