Most schools ready for June 4 class opening

MANILA — An official of the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Monday that a big percentage of schools nationwide is now ready for the opening of classes on June 4.

“Around 86 percent of the schools nationwide are ready and barely two percent needs support with regards to the opening of classes as since last year we have been monitoring the classroom and school readiness,” DepEd Undersecretary Jesus Mateo told a press briefing.

Mateo said that there are six variables which are used in school readiness assessement – teachers, classrooms, toilets, seats, water supply and electrical supply.

“When you say ‘ready’ it means the school is okay with almost all the variables, the ‘nearly ready’ they have 100 percent score in four out of the six variables, the needed support these are the schools which have met less than four variables and these are the ones we’re focusing on,” he said.

While reduced student-teacher ratio can now be observed in most schools, Mateo said there are still some areas where it would remain a problem.

“Reducing the class size, I’m happy to report that our ratio is 1:31 in elementary while in secondary is 1:26, pero totoong may mga eskwelahan pa na may 1:50 ratio pero ito po ay sa matataong lugar na hindi na mapagtayuan ng bagong eskwelahan (but it’s true there are some schools with 1:50 ratio but these are in the heavily populated places where schools can’t longer be built),” he said.

“Somewhere here in the Batasan area where the National Housing Authority resettlement programs have moved. For example, San Jose Del Monte, in Cavite also, hindi naman agad nakatayo ang services like school buildings yun ang mga hinahabol natin kaya sinasabi namin sa partner agencies bigyan niyo naman kami ng data para matugunan natin (services like school buildings are not readily available and that’s what we’re trying to rush and we’re asking our partner agencies to give us data so we can address them),” he added.

Mateo said that school site availability and soil testing are two of the common factors which keep DepEd from establishing more schools.

Last year, the challenge was that some of the locations of the school building which were previously dry were flooded due to typhoons.

Mateo said that among the six variables, DepEd needs to focus on the electrical supply for some schools this school year.

“Natutukan na ang ibang variables dati pa, pero yung schools na walang electrical supply, meron tayong budget dyan for solar panels or alternative sources of electricity in our local barrios (The other variables were already solved before, we have budget for solar panels or alternative sources of electricity for schools in our local barrios),” he said.

Considering the problems among schools in Marawi, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said that not all schools there are not ready to open on June 4 “as more than 20 schools are no longer appropriate to use and 40 schools need repairs.”

“Even before the Marawi seige, we had a survey and we saw that they’re not appropriate or safe….what the DepEd did, they’re clustered because they’re close to each other, not because of the bombing. But for other reasons, hopefully ma-accommodate pa rin lahat ng bata na mag-eenroll. May nga eskwelahan na lumang bahay na narrow ang staircase na hindi kaaya-aya sa ating (all children enrollees will be accommodated, there are schools which are old houses with narrow staircases which are not conducive for our) learners, they are clustered with the help of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao secretary, assistant secretary…and we coordinate,” she said.