DepEd begins Brigada Eskwela in time for June 4 opening of SY 2018-2019

Published May 25, 2018 8:54am 

Brigada Eskwela, the annual school preparation and improvement event of the Department of Education (DepEd), continues on its second day on Friday as schools and regional offices gear up for school year 2018-2019 which will start on June 4.
DepEd Undersecretary Tonisito Umali said in an interview on Unang Balita that only 400 to 600 out of 46,000 public elementary and high schools had no water connections, or lacked chairs and books.
Otherwise, and with the exception of Marawi, all schools merely needed cleanup and repairs of school equipment to get ready for the next school year.
"Handa, ibig sabihin po ay pwedeng-pwede na po tayong magsimula ng ating klase, unang araw pa lamang po," Umali said.
Nationwide, the teacher-student ratios of 1:25 for kindergarten, 1:35 for elementary, and 1:45 for high school students have largely been achieved but dense areas such as Metro Manila still have trouble achieving this ratio.
He explained, "Ang dahilan po niyan, kapag walang sapat na silid-aralan, siyempre isang guro lang po ang pwede magturo po dun. Medyo nagsisiksikan ho ng bahagya ang ating mga mag-aaral."
"Pero 'yung mga sitwasyon dati na 1:70, wala na po 'yun," Umali added, noting that even if there were enough teachers, lack of classrooms still made even-rationing difficult.
Teacher-student ratios have been addressed through shifting, but a lack of buildable space in urban cities made the larger problem of classroom shortage more difficult to solve.
"Wala na po talagang lugar, kaya nagkakaroon po tayo ng ganitong shifting, or we try to transport our children from one school which is congested to another school na 'di ganon kasikipan," Umali said.
Private school hikes
Umali explained that increases in the tuition of private schools must go to their teachers' salaries.
He said this is paramount as the entry wage for private school teachers are a paltry P15,000 compared to the P20,000 entry level wage for public school teachers.
"Pag-increase ng pasilidad, pagpapaganda ng pasilidad—20 percent of the increase dapat du'n po mapunta. And the rest, more or less than 10 percent, may form part of their retained earnings," Umali said.
More importantly, Umali said private schools must consult with parents to give them the chance to transfer their children to other schools with lower tuition. —KG, GMA News

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