ILOILO – Classes in public schools resume this Aug. 29 but this province still needs 1,652 classrooms, according to the Schools Division Office (SDO) of Iloilo.
Here is the breakdown of the needed classrooms per district: 1st District – 302; 2nd District – 297; 3rd District – 385; 4th District – 219; and 5th District – 449.
SDO Iloilo Superintendent Dr. Ernesto F. Servillon Jr. said classroom shortage pervades the province.
He, however, said the problem is being addressed by the Department of Education (DepEd) central office with the help of the Iloilo provincial government led by Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. and local chief executives (LCEs) of 43 local government units.
“Gina-amat-amatan naton pun-an ang kakulangan sang classrooms,” said Servillon during the Oplan Balik Eskwela Press Conference on Tuesday, Aug. 15.
Servillon is thankful to Defensor for allocating funds for the Iloilo Provincial School Board; this will augment the construction of additional classrooms.
Each LGU has a counterpart, too.
Two weeks ago, Servillon met with the congressmen from the province’s congressional districts to address the classroom shortage.
Interventions
To ensure that learners will not be affected by the classroom shortage, SDO Iloilo has identified temporary learning spaces.
The schools will utilize existing structures that could be converted into classrooms like the library, school clinic, and covered court.
In highly congested areas that have no available space for temporary learning spaces, the school would implement shifting of classes.
“Sa highly congested areas nga wala sang available nga space nga mabutangan sang temporary learning spaces, naga-resort kita sa shifting of classes, first shift in the morning, second in the afternoon. Amo na ang modalities nga gina-apply for immediate interventions,” explained Servillon.
More teachers, learning materials needed, too
The other two most baffling problems DepEd is facing for school year (SY) 2023-2024 are the lack of teachers and learning materials.
Servillon explained that every year the number of enrollees in the province increases, thus demand for additional teachers and learning materials increases, too.
The DepEd central office already downloaded fund to SDO Iloilo for hiring of new teachers and printing of learning materials.
Servillon said he is targeting to achieve the one teacher per 20 pupils or one teacher per 25 pupils ratio to implement the tutorial style of teaching.
However, with the shortage of teachers and the increasing number of learners every year, the DepEd is instead implementing one teacher per 45 pupils ratio.
“Sa planning standard sang DepEd ang ratio subong is 1:45, one teacher per 45 students, pero aiming to have 1 per 20 or one teacher per 25 learners tani para nga tutorial style gid. Galing kay daw kadasig ang pagdamo sang population naton amo na nag-settle kita sa 1:45 ratio,” he added.
Currently, Servillon could not yet determine how many more teachers are needed for the province for SY 2023-2024 because enrollment is still ongoing.
But, based on the SY 2022-2023, the province lacked 800 teachers for senior high school and 50 teachers for special education.
Last school year, there were a total of 493,395 public and private school learners in the province.
SDO Iloilo data also showed there are 1,648 public and private schools in the province, with a total of 19,991 personnel – 17,439 of whom are teaching personnel and 2,552 are non-teaching personnel./PN
