ILOILO City – To address the lack of classrooms in schools in Iloilo Province, the provincial government is studying the possibility of using tents as temporary classrooms.
“(The strategy is) to have a facility that can help us catch up soon while we are constructing classrooms,” Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. said on Tuesday.
Defensor led the inspection of a modular tent from the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) on the same day.
The governor checked the tent’s ventilation and durability as well as other ancillary matters to be done to make it conducive as a classroom.
He said the design is different, and the material has to withstand heat.
“We want to be sure it is correct. We examine the temperature and the adjustments if ever we decide that this is part of our solution to classroom shortage on a temporary basis,” he said.
Defensor was joined by Provincial Administrator Raul Banias, PRC administrator Gilbert Valderrama, General Services Office head Vicente Flores, Jr., Executive Assistant Aris Tedoco, and personnel from the Provincial Engineer’s Office.
The province lacks around 300 classrooms, Defensor said.
He said the strategy is to allot a part of the special education fund (SEF) for the catch-up plan.
“The larger part of our SEF goes to an intensified classroom program where we construct typhoon-resilient classrooms,” he added.
When not in use, Defensor said they could turn over the tents to local disaster risk reduction and management councils that could be used during calamities. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency)/PN
