Teachers’ strike threatens school opening

Private schools pursue demand for tuition hike

Malacañang appealed to teachers not to push through with their planned strike on Monday, saying this would be another burden to the people. 

Teachers have been asking for a P9,000 salary increase, higher than the P6,000 promised by the government to be given in staggered basis.

But in case the teachers continue with the protest, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education have come up with measures to address the problem.

The Palace official said far more worrisome is the threat of the Influenza A(H1N1).

“I think if there’s any concern for parents, it’s the A(H1N1). It’s a reminder for them to follow the advice of school teachers on what they’re supposed to do,” he added.

Ermita asked the public to cooperate with the government and follow advisories of the Health department. He advised parents to protect their children against the virus since they are ones most vulnerable.

Tuition increase

Another burden to parents with children still in school are the increase in tuition being sought for this year by some 109 private elementary and secondary schools in the National Capital Region.

According to Teresita Domalanta, DepEd-National Capital Region director, 66 private pre-elementary, elementary and Special Education (SPED) institutions and 44 private high schools have filed their petition for a fee hike as of end of last week.

Quezon City tops the list with 20 private elementary schools planning to raise their tuition and majority of them asking an increase of 6 percent to10 percent, while two others informed DepEd they plan to hike their fees by as much as 21 percent.

Manila is second on the list with 10 schools, followed by Pasig City with six and Caloocan and Makati with five each. Four schools in Marikina and three each in Las Piñas, Valenzuela and Malabon-Navotas have also followed suit while in Mandaluyong and Parañaque, two schools are eyeing to raise their fees.

Taguig-Pateros, Muntinlupa and San Juan have one school each while Pasay City has not registered any school seeking a tuition fee this school year.

In the secondary level, Manila came in first with 10 schools followed by Quezon City with seven, Parañaque and Pasig with four each while three schools each in Makati, Caloocan, Mandaluyong and Malabon-Navotas are also eyeing to raise their fees.

Domalanta said two schools in Valenzuela have also informed them of their plan to hike tuition while Las Piñas, Marikina, Muntinlupa and Pasay registered a single school each.

DepEd appeal

DepEd Secretary Jesli Lapus said the department has appealed to schools not to seek any adjustment in tuition this coming school year and a good number of them have acceded.

Lapus said only 3 percent of the total number of private schools (both elementary and secondary) in the country are asking for a tuition hike ranging from 6 percent to 10 percent, a far cry from the 17 percent last school year.

Last February, Federation of Private Schools and Administrators (FAPSA) President Eleazardo Kasilag said 150 of their member-schools will ask for a fee hike.

Kasilag said the group’ members which were eyeing to hike their matriculation fees are asking the public to understand their predicament saying that they should not be blamed as the prices of basic commodities have also gone up due to the current global financial crisis.

But he added that the fee hike would not actually accrue as earnings for private school owners as most of it would be plowed back to upgrade existing facilities and pay the salaries of teachers.

Double shift classes

The availability of facilities has always been a problem to DepEd, which will implement “double” and “triple” shift class schedule this year in places like Caloocan to make up for classroom shortage.

Lapus said the “compressed” class schedule will only be temporary as the department continues to look for additional funding for the construction of additional classrooms.

He said the department is looking at other options such as the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education to help augment the shortage in public school classrooms in time for school opening on June 1.

Under the said program, students from Metro Manila will receive P10, 000 while those studying in the province will receive P5, 000 financial assistance when they qualified and enrolled in private schools.

In 2008, DepEd-NCR reported a classroom shortage of 2,964 classrooms prior to the school opening but it was alleviated by the turnover of some 1, 522 new classrooms when classes opened last year.

Earlier, a report from DepEd’s Physical Facilities and Schools Engineering Division count the National Capital Region as among the five regions in the country with acute classroom shortage. The other regions were Region IV-A, the Autonomous Re­gion in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Region VII and Region IX.

New toilets

In a related development, Doma­lanta said students would no longer have to contend with stinking toilets as they were able to construct new comfort rooms while repairing and renovating existing facilities.

Domalanta said they are looking at tapping the Special Education Fund collected by the local government unit for the construction of sanitary facilities and new school buildings.

ACT National President Antonio Tinio said the statistics showed that the Philippine government has been failing to subscribe to international standard toilet to pupil ratio of 1:25 for girls and 1:30 for boys. –Angelo S. Samonte and James Konstantin Galvez, Reporters, Manila Times