1M Eastern Visayas students need 2,000 more classrooms

TACLOBAN CITY—About one million pupils and students in Eastern Visayas face lack of teachers and classrooms when they go back to school today.

Imelda Parado, Department of Education in Eastern Visayas (DepEd-8) information officer, said the department was trying its best to address these perennial problems by tapping the help of local government units, business groups and nongovernment organizations.

“We don’t only rely on government resources,” she said.

The DepEd-8 was anticipating over a million pupils and students to troop to both elementary and secondary public schools as enrollment for this school year was expected to rise by 10 percent.

Last year, DepED-8 recorded 708,715 pupils in the elementary level and 288,740 students in secondary level.

The anticipated increase in the number of enrollees will worsen the problem of lack of teachers and classrooms in Eastern Visayas.

For one, there were only 5,381 public school teachers in the elementary level, and 431 in the high school level.

Parado said the DepEd was grateful for the local officials who hired new teachers for their localities.

For classrooms, elementary public schools need 869 new classrooms, and 1,184 in the secondary level for this school year.

Parado said several nongovernment organizations and business groups had built and donated classrooms in Eastern Visayas.