ACCORDING to the Department of Education, a total of 28,797,660 had registered for the new school year of 2022-2023. This is 1.2 million higher than the 27.5 million enrollees from last year.
We are glad that enrollment rates are higher this year. In the past two years, enrollment rates were at a downward rate due to the inaccessible blended learning modalities of the Department of Education that forced many youths, especially those from the poorest of the poor families, to opt out of schooling which resulted in millions of out-of-school youths. With the increasing number of enrollees this year, and its plan to hold 100% face-to-face classes by November of this year, the Department of Education should have prepared adequate facilities to cater for the safe return of students in the schools.
This year, the proposed budget for the Office of the Secretary under the Department of Education only had a 12.7% increase from its P591 billion budget last year to a P666 billion budget this year. Though the budget item for Basic Education Facilities increased by 64% in the NEP of 2023, reports from the recent school opening where students are cramped in small classrooms with 50 students in a class or not having enough chairs and tables is very alarming and should immediately be addressed.
Even before the pandemic, the country already had perennial problems of shortages in desks, armchairs, learning materials, classrooms, and other facilities to cater for a conducive learning environment. With the added requirements of minimum health standards of social distancing, adequate ventilation and handwashing facilities to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, our schools are in greater need of support from the government to be able to provide adequate facilities for a safe, quality and accessible education.
Without addressing these perennial problems of shortages in facilities and personnel in education, millions of out-of-school youths (OSYs) will remain OSYs and many of those who initially registered for school this year may drop-out in the middle of the school year if conditions of our schools do not improve.
The Department of Education cannot claim “victory for basic education” if perennial problems of shortages are still not addressed, teachers are still overworked and underpaid and millions of school-aged youths are still out-of-school due to the inaccessibility of education in the country.
