Classroom shortage to keep 4.6 M youths out of school

MANILA, Philippines - Some 4.6 million youths would not be able to enroll in high school this school year due to the shortage of classrooms, particularly in rural areas, a party-list lawmaker disclosed yesterday.

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said the shortage of classrooms in public elementary schools is a cause for concern and the lack of public high schools is a more serious problem.

Due to the acute shortage of public secondary schools, 4.6 million youths ranging from 12 to 15 years old are not enrolled, Tinio said.

They make up a significant portion of the country’s 6.24 million out-of-school youths, he said.

Tinio said this school year, the Department of Education (DepEd) expects an enrollment of 7.45 million in public and private high schools nationwide.

Based on DepEd figures, there were 7,268 public high schools in the country in 2011. By contrast, there were 38,351 public elementary schools, he said.

“In short, there’s only one public high school for every five elementary schools. Almost all barangays in the country have at least one elementary school. By contrast, high schools may be found mainly in urban areas and population centers,” Tinio said.

“As a result, 91 percent of school-age children are enrolled in elementary, while only 62 percent are enrolled in high school,” he said.

Tinio said the shortage of public high schools, particularly in rural areas, “explains the alarmingly high number of children who are not enrolled in high school.”

“The existing high schools are simply too far away, making even free secondary education too costly for poor rural families,” Tinio said.

He said 26 years after the Constitution mandated free high school education, the government has not been able to make high school accessible to a substantial number of Filipino children.

Tinio criticized the Aquino administration for pushing for the K to 12 program, which will add two more years to high school, while failing to address the continuing lack of access of millions of children to secondary education.

“What is the DepEd doing to enable 4.6 million children to enter high school? Its current intervention, particularly the alternative learning system (ALS), is commendable but grossly inadequate, compared to the magnitude of the problem,” he said.

Currently, ALS serves a mere 300,000 out-of-school children. Furthermore, there’s no substitute for schooling in the classroom setting. Children of the rural poor are as much entitled to quality teachers, classrooms, and textbooks as other Filipinos, Tinio said.

He said failure to provide access to secondary education to the poor would worsen social inequality and hinder genuine national development.

“If the shortage of public high schools is not addressed, we will see a further widening of the gap in educational attainment among Filipino youth in the urban centers and the countryside, and among the middle and upper income groups and the poor,” he said.

Tinio challenged the Aquino administration to embark on a massive program to establish high schools in the countryside. The rallying cry for education should be “one high school in every barangay,” he said.

DepEd urges early registration

The DepEd urged yesterday parents of public school students to take advantage of the last week of summer vacation to enroll their kids now to minimize the overcrowding of classrooms.

DepEd Assistant Secretary Jesus Mateo said overcrowding of classrooms particularly in Metro Manila public schools is aggravated by the practice of most parents to enroll their children at the last minute, making it difficult for school authorities to properly distribute pupils and limit the number of students per class.

“We are encouraging early registration so that we can refer students to nearby schools that are not overcrowded,” Mateo said at a press conference after the launching of the “Oplan Balik Eskwela.”

“We hope that all public elementary and high school students will start with their first lesson during the opening of classes on June 3,” Mateo said.

DepEd conducted an early registration in public schools last Jan. 26.

The agency expects more than 23 million students in both public and private elementary and high schools to be enrolled this school year. – With Helen Flores