Willie Ng
IT took a public scolding in front of TV cameras of Education Secretary Fe Hidalgo by President Arroyo on whether there was a shortage of classrooms to finally provide long overdue solutions, although too late for the school year.
Secretary Hidalgo’s observation that there was a shortage of 6,832 classrooms got her the presidential tirade that double shifts per classroom of 50 students per shift would take care of Hidalgo’s shortage.
Not so. In the ensuing discussion reaching educators as well as the Senate, it is discovered that between 45,000 to 55,000 classrooms will have to be built.
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Overcrowded classrooms, at times, populated by 80 or more pupils, have been with us in this and past administrations.
The shortage has always been partially met. Never has the right number of schoolhouses been built.
The same goes for teachers. Each year, thousands of new teachers are hired, always in the days just before school opening and never in sufficient numbers. There is never time to train the new hires, most of them raw graduates.
The solution is always partial. The problem worsens each year.
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Thanks to the publicity generated by the televised scolding of Secretary Hidalgo, who told the media later that she felt sorry for herself, the Senate has added R4.6 billion to the education budget for building schools. Her humiliation is the nation’s gain.
Sen. Ed Angara said that at 50 to a classroom, we have the biggest class size in ASEAN. Actually, he believed it is more like 60 or 70 to a classroom. It is 19 to a classroom in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, he said. Indonesia is 32 to one.
At 60 or 70 to one, students in the back can play chess without the overworked teacher being the wiser, he said.
Will things be better next year? It may very well be. Speaker Joe de Venecia is asking China to build 100,000 schools. Farewell, double shifting. Farewell, overcrowding.
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