DepEd ready for June 4 opening of classes

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Monday expressed its readiness for the June 4 resumption of classes as it expects around 27.7 million students trooping back to public and private elementary and secondary schools nationwide.

While classes in public schools across the country will start on the first Monday of the June, those in private schools may begin on different dates after that day but not later than the last day of August, pursuant to Republic Act No. 7797.

At the launch of “Oplan Balik Eskwela” at the DepEd central office in Pasig City, education officials and representatives from different government agencies said preparations are in full swing for the surge of students back to schools next month.

Education Undersecretary Jesus Mateo said based on their monitoring, only around 638 public schools nationwide, or 1.36 percent of a total of 46,815 schools, were classified as “needing support” for the resumption of classes.

This meant that based on DepEd’s assessment, these schools lacked certain variables to be classified as “ready” or “nearly ready” for the school opening. These variables included teachers, classrooms, toilets, seats, water supply and electrical supply.

“We are focusing on schools that have issues with electricity and water supply,” Mateo said, adding, however, that these issues may not be easily resolved before classes begin, since it would require coordination with power distributors and water concessionaires.

Without going into details, he noted that the schools that still have issues to be addressed were mostly in congested areas.

While there was no immediate security threat for the resumption of classes, the Philippine National Police said it would deploy around 28,000 personnel nationwide to ensure the safety and security of students and teachers.

More than 2,900 traffic constables, meanwhile, will be deployed by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority to areas prone to traffic congestion.

Meanwhile, DepEd has approved the application for tuition fee increase of 170 private schools in the National Capital Region for the upcoming school year.

The bulk of schools that would increase their fees was in Quezon City, with 51 schools, followed by Manila (36) and Pasig (14).

DepEd has yet to consolidate the total number of private schools nationwide that are allowed to have tuition hike.

Mateo said private schools were only allowed to increase their fees in accordance to DepEd guidelines, which state that 70 percent of the increase must be for teachers’ salaries. /vvp