Noy failed to solve shortages in public schools – lawmakers

As schools opened yesterday for the start of the new school year, militant lawmakers criticized the Aquino administration for failing to address the critical shortages of teachers and classrooms in public schools.

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio averred that the actual conditions revealed on the first day of school belied Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Armin Luistro’s rosy prediction that critical shortages in education resources would be addressed in two years.

“Almost one year after President Aquino assumed the presidency, yesterday’s (Monday) school opening showed that the new government has failed to solve the lack of teachers, classrooms and other school resources. The shortages are still there, and in some cases have gotten worse.”

Tinio cited data provided by the DepEd shows that for the school year 2011-2012, public schools require an additional 101, 612 regular teachers; 66,800 classrooms; 135,847 comfort rooms; and 2,573,212 chairs.

“These figures are as high as they were during the Arroyo administration,” noted Tinio. “The reform and change promised by this administration has not been borne out in education.”

Tinio challenged both Aquino and Luistro to pay a visit to schools like Payatas B Elementary School in Quezon City, where some Grade 6 classes are held in makeshift classrooms in what should be the school quadrangle, and regular classrooms are partitioned in half to accommodate two classes with 60 to 70 students per class.

“They should also visit Batasan Hills National High School, with class sizes averaging at around 90 students, and where some students have to sit on the floor because of the lack of chairs,” said Tinio. “I challenge them to look these children in the eye and tell them that this is the best that their administration can give them.”

Tinio called on the Aquino administration to allocate additional funds to education.

“We are seeing the consequences of this administration’s misplaced funding priorities,” said Tinio as he pointed out that Malacañang allotted a whopping P21 billion for its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program while basic services such as education and health remained grossly underfunded.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño for his part, criticized the poor public spending for the country’s public education sector “as one of the major factors that cause the annual shortages in classrooms, school buildings, teachers, textbooks and other needs.”

“The government is always burdened with the backlogs of the previous year at the start of every school year. This is primarily due to low government allocations in public education in all levels, from kindergarten to college,” Casiño said.

The solon lamented the fact that the 2011 budget allocations for the DepEd and state colleges and universities (SUCs) in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) all show that indeed, miniscule amounts are actually spent by government on a per student basis.

“The DepEd has P192,312,856,000 for this year. And that is for 22.05 million students enrolled in public schools kindergarten, elementary and high school levels. That is only P8,721.67 per public school student for 2011. That shows that indeed, you won’t have enough classrooms, teachers and textbooks. That shows you will have multigrade classes in cramped classrooms and overworked public school teachers,” Casiño said.

According to DepEd, at least 23 tables and 46 chairs should be in every new classroom constructed from this year’s funds. Secondary school classrooms, meanwhile, should have at least 45 armchairs, a blackboard a teacher’s table and chair for every classroom.

“This also shows that the P11.29 billion budget for basic educational facilities this year is definitely not enough. The largest chunks of the May 10, partial release of P7 billion for the construction and repair of 8,997 classrooms for 404,865 students is like a drop in the bucket as the larger parts of the release will only cover the National Capital Region (P1 billion), the Region IV-A (P841 million), the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (P660.311 million), and Central Visayas (P562 million),” Casiño said.

The same goes for the tertiary level as SUCs only have a total of P22,035,085,000 for this year.

“With 1,200,000 students enrolled in SUCs, that budget is only good for P18,362.57 per student. These belie claims that government is going to solve the problems of the public education sector when we dissect the allocations with enrolment figures,” Casiño said.

In 2010, the shortages in public education were 54,000 teachers, 4,500 principals, 61,300 classrooms, 817,000 armchairs, and 113,100 water and sanitation facilities.

“I have yet to see if the 2010 shortages have been resolved. The classroom shortage for this year is 152,000 classrooms to attain the 45 student class size. With the sheer numbers of students in the kindergarten and elementary levels, we would also need more permanent teacher items. –Charlie V. Manalo, Daily Tribune