MANILA – Some of Quezon City’s biggest schools opened their classes on time on Monday, despite challenges brought by overpopulation and the bad weather. 

At the Batasan Hills National High School, principal Dr. Joseph Palisoc said they temporarily stopped accepting Grade 11 students to address the issue of overcrowding in their school.

"Nag-strategize ang school with coordination sa SDO (school division office) na temporary wala muna Grade 11, kasi maraming public schools nearby na kulang enrollees sa Senior High. Nirefer muna namin, sa ngayon wala tayong Grade 11," Palisoc said.

(The school coordinated with the division office that we will not temporarily accept Grade 11 students since many schools nearby lacked enrollees anyway. We referred them to other schools for the meantime.)

Their Grade 11 students had to transfer to other schools, like Commonwealth and Lagro.

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Data from ABS-CBN News' Investigative and Research Group showed Batasan Hills had the highest number of enrollees in high school last school year, with more than 17,000 students.

This school year, they only have 15,890 students.

Batasan Hills National High School has an average of 75 to 80 students per year level. The students are divided into two shifts; with the first one starting from 6 a.m. until noon and the next one ending past 7 p.m. 

They also employ the blended learning modality, with some sections going onsite for only three days a week, while the other two days are done online.

Some students appeared excited on the first day of classes.

"Wala pong tulog kasi nandito yung excitement kasi part of the learner government po, there's excitement po," said Jane Carla Jose, a Grade 12 student.

(I wasn't able to sleep because of the excitement since I'm part of the learner government.)

"Pinaka-highlight na gusto kong maranasan ay yung prom ng senior high school, graduating na po. I've been with Batasan in 6 years," she added.

(The highlight I'm looking forward to this year is our senior high school prom, since I'm graduating this year.)

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Student Council president of the Batasan Hills National HS said they receive quality education and are preparing to take entrance examinations in several universities.

"Talagang kalidad ang binibigay na turo at lahat ng kaguruan, school staff at officials, talagang pinagfofocusan ang quality of education natin. Hindi pumapalya d’yan lalo sa activities at projects, inclined sa curriculum at quality of education," said Justine Alday.

(The teachers ensure the quality of our education. They do not falter in ensuring that our activities and projects are aligned with the curriculum.)

Palisoc said they also have programs on ensuring the mental wellness of students, and they also ensure students can read before being admitted to high school.

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HABAGAT

At Bagong Silangan Elementary School, the administration and their teachers had to expedite the clean-up of rooms so they could be ready for the first day.

Thirty-one of their classrooms were used as evacuation centers due to heavy monsoon rains last week.

The new evacuation center in their barangay exceeded its capacity, so their classrooms were used. 

"Awa ng Diyos sila ay nakauwi na, kaya ang ginawa namin, nag-expedite kami ng mga tumulong sa amin na barangay lalo na sa kaguruan, nag-fast-track kami sa paglilinis para sa ganoon, unang araw ngayon ay malinis na at handang-handa na," said Dr. Wilma Rosal, principal of Bagong Silangan Elementary School.

(With God's grace, the evacuees have returned to their homes. We expedited the cleanup together with our barangay officials and teachers so we could be ready for our first day today.)

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Bagong Silangan Elementary School has some 9,000 students from Kinder to Grade 6, but this number is expected to increase further, as some parents are still enrolling their children. 

The local government of Quezon City earlier announced that "a total of 143 public elementary and high schools in Quezon City will be ready for the opening of classes on Monday, July 29."

Fifteen public schools in the city failed to resume classes on Monday due to the bad weather, while some schools needed repair.

"Classes in Sto. Cristo Elementary School, Balumbato Elementary School, Cong. Reynaldo Calalay Elementary School, Sinagtala Elementary School, San Francisco Elementary School, Dalupan Elementary School, Diosdado P. Macapagal Elementary School, Rosa L. Susano Elementary School, Odelco Elementary School, Josefa Jara Martinez High School, and Sta. Lucia High School will start only on August 1 (Thursday) as they are currently being used as evacuation centers," their announcement read.

"Mayor Joy Belmonte added that Betty Go Belmonte Elementary School, Masambong Elementary School, Masambong High School, and Sergio Osmena Sr. High School sustained damages that needed immediate repair and can only begin classes on August 5 (Monday)," the announcement added.