Marcos wants public school restrooms improved

SAN MIGUEL, Bulacan — The government needs to rehabilitate public schools, especially restrooms to ensure proper hygiene for students, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday after inspecting several elementary schools ahead of the opening of classes next week.

Some of the classrooms should have been replaced 20 to 30 years after they were constructed, the President told reporters on the sidelines of a school inspection here.

“We really have to look at the rehabilitation of many of them. One of the things that I noticed are the bathrooms. Kailangan na kailangan natin linisin at pagandahin ang mga bathrooms,” he said.

“Hindi naman mahirap yun except ang problema sa mga pinuntahan naming eskwela, walang tubig kaya yun ang titingnan naming mabuti kung saan dapat manggaling ang tubig,” he said.

Marcos ordered officials to find out why some schools have no water supply when they have been paying their utility bills.

“For me, basic yan kasi pati yung health ng bata natatamaan,” Marcos said.

“Magkakasakit ‘yan kung hindi malinis ang mga pinupuntahan nilang mga bathroom,” he said.

“Those are areas that we have to focus on just for the health and safety of the kid. That’s the most basic and important thing we have to do,” he said.

The President helped install a chalkboard in one of the classrooms and oversaw the distribution of donated tablets for students at the Bahiran Elementary School in Malolos. 

At the Tibagan Elementary School in San Miguel, several classrooms are already infested with termites, said its principal Casimiro Reyes Jr.

The school has requested pest control services and teachers are hoping that it will be done before the opening of classes on June 16, the principal said.

Meanwhile, Marcos noted that the government hired 20,000 new teachers to “reduce the load” of educators, who have been flagging the volume of administrative and operation tasks assigned to them.

“I’m very happy that we are doing a better job, I think, in preparing for the school year,” Marcos said.

“Everybody has already been enrolled into this effort, hindi lamang ang DepEd kung hindi ang mga iba’t ibang department,” he said.

“We are all on board here to do and supply, provide whatever it is that our school children need,” he said.

The Department of Education earlier said that it was expecting 27 million students this school year.