MAKESHIFT OFFICE Teachers at Bacoor National High School in Bacoor City, Cavite province, convert an old restroom into a faculty office amid the shortage of classrooms. The teachers, however, will soon be moved to the school’s social hall as the Department of Education addresses the problem. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna, Philippines — Teachers at Bacoor National High School in Cavite province will get their own spaces following the online fuss generated by video clips and photos of faculty members holding office in a school restroom.
As it turned out, it was not only the 11 mathematics teachers who turned a toilet into their makeshift faculty room, but majority of the 243 teachers in the Bacoor City school did so, too, said Maricel Herrera, one of the teachers who posted their pictures online in May.
Herrera’s photos went viral and drew public attention to the teachers’ plight, prompting Education Undersecretary Jesus Mateo and Carlito Rocafort, Department of Education (DepEd) regional director in Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), in June to step in.
The DepEd had also pledged to allocate funds in the 2020 budget to build a permanent faculty room for the school’s main campus, currently with around 7,000 students.
Social hall
In their meeting last month, school principal Anita Rom offered the teachers the social hall, a function room that normally accommodated 500 people, as a temporary faculty space.
“Some of the teachers used it for a while but they eventually went back to the laboratories or restrooms because it was too hot in there (social hall),” Herrera said in a telephone interview on Monday.
Reached on Sunday, Rom said they had decided to issue last week a memorandum ordering all teachers, “including those who held office in some corners,” to occupy the social hall.
“This should put all these issues to rest. They could also now use the air conditioner,” she added.
Single shift
According to Rom, the national high school’s main campus and its annexes have about 600 teachers and 17,000 students, “so you can just imagine the responsibility given to me.”
Herrera, who has been teaching for more than 20 years, said the problem arose only this school year when the DepEd decided to remove the night classes. Putting all students in a single shift means one section will have at least 50 students, requiring the school to convert its rooms, such as the old faculty office, into classrooms.
The displaced teachers stayed in the toilets, Herrera said.
“Some had even spent as much as P9,000 of their own money to have the [rest]rooms fixed, like [plugging the] leaks or [repairing] doors [when the teachers decided to use them],” she added.
It was not clear if the teachers would get a refund for the cost of repairs, but Rom said they “shouldn’t have spent [for those]” in the first place.
Alvin Fuentes, head of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers-Southern Tagalog, said the shortage of school facilities was not only a problem in Bacoor City but in most public schools across the country. —Maricar Cinco