W. Visayas needs 3,000 classrooms, 2,058 teachers

MORE classrooms are needed for this schoolyear. RICHARD BALONGLONG / INQUIRER NORTHERNLUZON

BACOLOD CITY—The Department of Education (DepEd) will be faced with a shortage of 2,058 teachers and 3,000 classrooms in public  schools in Western Visayas when classes start in June.

According to Mildred Garay, DepEd Western Visayas director, the shortage was caused by previous backlogs and an expected increase in enrollment.

She said that in areas where there is a lack of teachers, school boards of local government units usually provide the funds for the salaries of needed teachers.

She also expected an additional allocation of teacher items from the DepEd this school year.

As to the lack of classrooms, Garay said this could be addressed by bigger class sizes and the use of non-classroom spaces, such as libraries and school stages, she said.

The target enrollment in Western Visayas at preschool level is 139,572, in elementary 1,049,448 and in the secondary level 488,505, she said.

The total additional teacher item allocation in DepEd in Western Visayas for school year 2012-2013 was 4,964 but 2,058 were still needed, she added.

The Department of Budget and Management recently approved 61,510 new teaching positions nationwide, even as it gave the green light to provide funding for teachers being redeployed from schools with excess teacher items to areas with shortages, the DepEd website reported.