Mindanaotoday.com | NorMin lacks 13K classrooms: DepEd-10
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – All is set for the opening of classes this school-year in Northern Mindanao on Monday, August 22, despite the shortage of classrooms due to distancing of seats to stem coronavirus transmissions among learners, an education agency regional official said.
Regional Director Arturo Bayocot of the Department of Education-10 (DepEd-10), said during the “Oplan Balik Eskwela” launch program last Wednesday, August 17, that the region needs 12,684 more classrooms to achieve the ideal classroom-student ratio for face-to-face classes.
“Get rid of all corners,” said Bayocot, when asked if the standard 7-meter by 9-meter classroom can accommodate 30 students, aside from advising teachers and school heads to use chairs instead of two-seater desks.
He said teachers sharing one room for their classes are advised to reduce their one-hour session to 50 minutes to allow disinfections and prevent crowding of learners – an innovative scheme which the DepEd executive committee recognized.
Other than the classroom backlog, the region also needs 9,016 more teachers: 4,285 in elementary, 4,366 in junior high school, and 365 in senior high school.
These backlogs can be managed and other challenges can be managed, Bayocot said even as he announced that 1,445 out of the region’s 2,652 public schools are 100-percent ready for F2F classes in all 13 schools divisions on Monday, with the exception for Cagayan de Oro.
“We’re testing the waters,” said Asst. Schools Division Supt. Lorebina Carrasco of Cagayan de Oro when asked why, and echoed an earlier pronouncement of Schools Division Supt. Cherry Mae Limbaco-Reyes that the shift to November 2 full-F2F five-day classes would gradual.
Carrasco said starting Monday all public schools would still be on distance-learning mode, followed by three-day in-person-per session per week, before the full five-day full F2F classes.
This scheme, she said, has something to do with the rising number of Covid-19 infections since July this year and for the vaccination coverage of school-age groups to improve.
Prior to the pandemic, the standard classroom, as prescribed under DepEd Department Order 10, s. 2008, allows 35 students, but in 2020 the education department (D.O. 14) revised the number of learners in a classroom for in-person sessions to 18 to 21 only.
Bayocot’s presentation indicated that of the 12,684 classroom shortage, elementary level needs most 7,964 while junior and senior high school levels require 3,456 and 1,264 more, respectively.
He said the region only receive one school-building project last school year.
Region 10’s inventory of classroom was 34,902 in 3,101 public and private schools. Classroom-student ratio, for all levels, was 32. (MT)
###