The Department of Education (DepEd) said that there are “sufficient chairs and tables” for learners in Jose Abad Santos High School, clarifying that the students who were captured sitting on the floor on the first day of classes were actually doing “psychosocial activities.”
The Division of City Schools (DCS) Manila, on Monday, Aug. 22, asserted that there are enough armchairs in Jose Abad Santos High School. In a press statement, DCS Manila reported that the institution has a total of 3,179 chairs with an average of 51 chairs per classroom.
“ more than enough to accommodate the learners,” said DCS Manila.
Meanwhile, in a televised interview over CNN Philippines on Tuesday, Aug. 23, DepEd Spokesperson Michael Poa backed DCS Manila’s statement. He did, however, clarify that there was an insufficient number of chairs and tables in the school prior to the school opening, but it was resolved during the conduct of Brigada Eskwela.
“Sa Jose Abad Santos sa Manila, may kakulangan ‘yan noong umpisa as I was informed. But during the Brigada Eskwela, we were able to get from the school called Carlos Romulo School (In Jose Abad Santos in Manila, there was a shortage at the beginning as I was informed, But, during the Brigada Eskwela, we were able to get chairs from the school called Carlos Romulo School),” said Poa.
“The reason why the children was because they were doing psychosocial activities in the morning. Sufficient naman po ‘yung chairs nila, that’s why the teacher opted to rearrange muna yung armchairs because they wanted to do psychosocial activities which are in line with the directive given to them by DepEd (The reason why the children were sitting on the floor was because they were doing psychosocial activities in the morning. Their chairs are sufficient, that is why the teacher opted to rearrange the armchairs first because they wanted to do psychosocial activities which are in line with the directive given to them by DepEd),” he added.
Classes for SY 2022-2023 began on Monday, Aug. 22.