1 classroom for 130 HS studes in N. Mindanao

January 18, 2010

CAGAYAN DE ORO – Government-run secondary schools in Northern Mindanao has an average ratio of only one classroom for nearly 130 high school students, a youth organization here disclosed recently.

Kabataan Partylist regional coordinator Vanessa Entia said their group has conducted a study on the problems facing the education system here in the provinces of Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, Bukidnon, Camiguin and Lanao del Norte together with the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

She said their research showed that the primary problem in the region is on the shortage of classrooms in secondary public schools.

“Sa Northern Mindanao, tungod sa kakulang sa classrooms, halos usa ka maestra o maestro sa high school ang magklase og 130 ka estudyante sa matag isa ka classroom (In Northern Mindanao, because of the shortage in classrooms, teachers are forced to conduct classes with 130 students in one classroom),” she said.

Entia said their organization discovered that public secondary schools are even forced to divide their high school classes and adopt a “shifting” scheme.

She said the public secondary high schools are coming out with more and more additional night shift classes.

“Apan ang sweldo sa mga magtutudlo mao ra gihapon (But this is done without increasing the pay of the public school teachers who are still the ones charged with educating these high school students) ,” she said.
The Kabataan Partylist’s study also revealed that there is a shortage of 70,000 classrooms and around four million classroom chairs nationwide. There is also around 2 million shortage in public school books.

“Malabo nga mapalit ni nga libro sa kagamay sa gigahin nga kwarta (There is only a slim chance that even the needed books for our public schools will be bought as the budget in education is only a meager amount),” Entia said.

She said this is why President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s P186.9 billion budget for education in 2010 will not suffice in addressing the problems besieging the educational system of the country.

She pointed out that the Arroyo government has even failed to figure in the destruction on government schools brought by natural calamities.

She cited the destruction brought by tropical storm Ondoy which caused damage to numerous schools buildings, chairs, books and other educational facilities needed for the proper education of public school students.

Entia lamented how most of the budget for education does not even reach the island of Mindanao because of the lack in sincerity of the Arroyo government in addressing these problems.

“Kon magpadayon kini sistema sa edukasyon, walay kaugmaon ang mga kabataan sa nasud labina nato diri sa Mindanao (If this system of education will continue, there is no hope for our youth of this nation especially for those of us here in Mindanao),” she said.

Already, the regional office of the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB-10) under statistical coordination officer IV Linnito Pascual earlier released figures pointing out how School Participation Rate for secondary level students for School Year 2008-2009 in Northern Mindanao was only 36.28 percent.

School Participation Rate includes factors as that of the number of enrollees at the start of the semester and the number of those who dropped-out during that particular school year among others. The data is prepared by the Department of Education.

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