New education chief, decades-old problems as public schools open
The school opening gives Secretary Sonny Angara a snapshot of his colossal task as the Department of Education's new leader
MANILA, Philippines – Jose Samson, principal of Carmona National High School (CNHS) in Cavite, pointed to a classroom shortage as the major challenge for their school on Monday, July 29.
“Kulang tayo [ng] 27 classrooms (We lack 27 classrooms),” Samson said.
It was a brief answer that likely reflects the situation in most, if not all, public schools that started classes on Monday for school year 2024-2025.
Samson relayed the issue to newly installed Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara, who visited them on school opening day. “Yes. It’s a very big [problem],” Angara said.
To make up for the classroom shortage, CNHS is implementing class shifting. The first shift starts at 5:50 am and the second begins at 1 pm.
Angara said that another school he visited — Casimiro A. Ynares Sr. Memorial National High School in Taytay, Rizal — also lacks classrooms for its special education program.
The classroom shortage is just one of the decades-old problems confronting the Philippine education system.
During Vice President Sara Duterte’s stint as DepEd chief, the government was able to build only 3,600 new classrooms. Education Assistant Secretary Francis Bringas had said that public schools lacked some 159,000 classrooms before they opened in August 2023. At this rate, the government would be able to address the classroom shortage in 40 years, and by that time, more problems in the education sector may have cropped up.
Asked about solutions to the classroom shortage, Angara pledged faster construction under his watch by strengthening the coordination between the DepEd and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
“‘Yung…early procurement activities na tinatawag, ginagawa ho ‘yan sa [DPWH]. Sana gawin din namin dito sa — in coordination with DepEd and DPWH. Mag coordinate ‘yung dalawang ahensiya,” he said.
(The early procurement activities are being done at the DPWH. We hope that we will also do these activities at the DepEd in coordination with the DPWH. The two agencies will need to coordinate.)
Early procurement activities, Angara explained, include validating of school sites. “May problema kung hindi pala kaya nung lupain ‘yung multistory building, so ‘yung tinatawag na soil test,” he said. (There would be a problem if the land weren’t suitable for a multistory building, so we need what’s called a soil test.)
For construction to even inch forward, however, the funds have to be there. Bringas had said that the government would need P397 billion.
Will Angara, a former senator who is no stranger to the budget process, be able to get the necessary funds for classroom construction? The 2025 budget deliberations for government agencies are underway at the House of Representatives.
Flood-hit schools
Due to the impact of severe flooding, not all 47,000 public schools in the country were able to start classes on Monday. Hundreds had to postpone their opening because of the lingering effects of the southwest monsoon or habagat, which was enhanced by Typhoon Carina (Gaemi).
In Santa Mesa, Manila, Elpidio Quirino High School was able to welcome back students, but some textbooks and other materials had to be dried following the flooding.
Angara himself got a glimpse of the distressing situation on the ground whenever it rains. He was supposed to visit Biñan Elementary School in Laguna, but classes got suspended after rain brought more floods early Monday.
“Nalungkot nga ako na kailangan pa ring ipagpaliban ‘yung pasukan do’n sa ibang lugar. Pero naiintindihan natin ‘yun dahil malakas pa rin ‘yung ulan kanina,” he told reporters.
(I was saddened that some areas had to postpone the school opening. But I understand the situation as well because the rain was still heavy earlier.)
Still, Angara said the school opening was “so far, so good.”
Latest DepEd data show that 20,598,072 students have enrolled, so far. This figure is expected to go up in the coming weeks as students can still enroll until September.
Mismatch
Another issue that Angara has to find a solution to is the mismatch between teachers’ expertise and their actual workload. In some schools, teachers have no choice but to handle subjects that don’t match their expertise.
“That’s a problem that we have to address, like the science subject. We don’t have specialists on this so we really need to work and be prepared for the coming Programme for International Student Assessment. Some institutions help in training our teachers. In case that we’re not able to hire immediately, at least we will be able to train them,” he said.
According to a World Bank study in 2016, the knowledge of teachers and the method they use to teach a subject are “important determinants of student learning outcomes in the Philippines.”
The study showed, however, that “knowledge of subject matter among elementary and high school teachers is low in most subjects.” For instance, a mathematics teacher in high school was only able to answer 31% of questions “completely correctly,” far from even half of the questions.
“Since the tests are closely aligned with the curriculum, the results suggest that teachers face significant challenges in teaching a considerable portion of the current K to 12 curriculum,” the study said.
The school opening gave Angara a snapshot of his colossal task as the new DepEd leader. Will he be able to deliver? – Rappler.com