New school year but same old problems for Pasay City teachers

Students of Batasan Hills National High School in Quezon City may have a classroom but due to the lack of chairs, most of them end up squatting on the floor. RICHARD A. REYES

In the second year of implementation of the K + 12 program, which adds two more years to the basic education system, a school in Pasay City continues to struggle with the same old problems, including the lack of classrooms.

At Maricaban Elementary School, a teacher and her class of 50 students must endure the noise made by passersby and remain focused on class activities—a difficult endeavor since they are holding classes outdoors with blackboards serving as makeshift dividers.

“This is not conducive to learning. But we have no choice but to make do with what we have,” Jenny Peras, a Grade 5 teacher, said in an interview.

Peras, however, acknowledged that her pupils were having a hard time paying attention to her even if she raised her voice because of the noise made by other students passing by the area.

To maximize all available space on the school campus, classrooms have also been set up in a portion of the canteen. But despite the blackboards that function as dividers, the students in one class cannot help but overhear the lesson being taught in the room next to theirs.

Noel Junio, principal of Maricaban Elementary School, said there were around 2,500 students enrolled this year so they were having problems finding enough classrooms to accommodate everyone.

According to him, the school was in need of 25 more classrooms. This was despite the Pasay City government’s assurance that 48 new classrooms had been constructed to address the classroom shortage in public schools this year.

Around 60,000 students are enrolled in Pasay’s 19 public elementary schools, seven secondary schools and four special schools for the physically challenged.

Mayor Antonino Calixto, however, promised that more classrooms and school buildings would be built soon.