FINDING ANSWERS
Former Senator
Atty. Joey Lina
As many face-to-face classes started yesterday in our public schools, the perennial problems prior to the pandemic – severe shortage of classrooms, teachers, and instructional materials – have surfaced anew.
With around 27.69 million basic education students enrolled so far all over the country, the problems particularly on classroom shortage have become even more formidable amid fears that public health protocols would be difficult to meet especially in November when all schools are expected to fully shift to in-person classes.
As of now, only 46 percent or 24,175 public and private schools have face-to-face classes five days a week while 51.8 percent or 29,271 schools are on blended learning modality with in-person classes three days only per week and online classes for two days, the DepEd said. And to prevent crowding in classrooms, some schools would have three shifts.
But despite the risk to public health, many educational experts believe that in-person classes are necessary as learning losses “may never be recovered” by those affected in the absence of in-person classes.
“With every day that goes by, children unable to access in-person schooling fall further and further behind, with the most marginalized paying the heaviest price,” according to UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore. A September 2021 UNICEF report said the Philippines, along with Panama and Bangladesh, were among three countries in the world that closed schools for the longest time.
The UNICEF warned that absence of in-person learning lead to mental distress, learning loss, heightened drop-out risks, among others, and the most impacted are those in grade school.
“The first grade sets up the building blocks for all future learning, with introductions to reading, writing, and math,” the UNICEF said. “It's also a period when in-person learning helps children gain independence, adapt to new routines, and develop meaningful relationships with teachers and students. In-person learning also enables teachers to identify and address learning delays, mental health issues, and abuse that could negatively affect children’s well-being.”
Thus, the necessity of in-person classes is beyond dispute. But the shortage of classrooms and teachers remain problematic. According to a statement last month of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers urging the new administration to fast-track the hiring of more teachers, “26,000 teaching positions have yet to be filled as of February 2021, and an additional 10,000 teaching items were created under the 2022 General Appropriations Act.”
To help solve the recurring problems of shortage of classrooms and teachers, the country’s local school boards (LSB) ought to be tapped. In these crucial times, LSBs ought to fully function in its crucial role in the pursuit of the so-called educational governance, with strong partnership between DepEd and local government units, to address pressing problems.
As provided by the Local Government Code of 1991, provinces, cities, and municipalities have their own respective LSBs comprised of the local chief executive and appropriate superintendent or supervisor of schools as co-chairmen, with members consisting of the local sanggunian’s education committee chairman, the local treasurer, representative of Sangguniang Kabataan, representative of the teachers’ organization, and representative of the non-academic personnel of public schools.
The LSBs “serve as advisory committee to the sanggunian concerned on educational matters such as, but not limited to, the necessity for and the uses of local appropriations for educational purposes.” LSBs also determine budgetary needs for the operation and maintenance of public schools funded from special levy of one percent of real property tax collected by LGUs annually.
When I was Laguna governor, the LSB met almost monthly, and not just once every quarter, to review programs, projects and activities pertaining to education provided to pupils in Laguna elementary and high schools. And such programs and projects include the building of more classrooms and hiring of more teachers.
With all the challenges facing our public school system that have become even more daunting with the pandemic, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte is hard pressed to find answers to perennial problems which can be overwhelming when viewed from a national perspective. But with the help of LSBs, solutions can emerge by “localizing” problems and subjecting them to sharper focus.
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