By Brian Campued
Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara on Wednesday emphasized the importance of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in addressing the shortage of classrooms and school buildings in the country, especially in underserved areas.
In his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said that while nearly 22,000 classrooms have been opened in the past three years, the government must work with the private sector to build an additional 40,000 classrooms before the current administration ends.
“Talagang nakakaawa ang ating mga mag-aaral. Hindi na natin dapat nabibitin ang oras nila sa klase dahil sa kakulangan ng classroom,” the President lamented.
During the post-SONA forum in San Juan City, Angara said that the government has only built a maximum of 6,000 classrooms per year on average for the last decade.
“Mabigat po ang problema ng kakulangan sa classrooms dahil apektado po iyong learning quality or iyong abilidad ng isang estudyante na matuto nang maigi. So, tama iyong sinabi ni Presidente na kailangang mag-think out of the box tayo,” Angara said.
“Kapag ginawa natin iyong public-private partnerships, siguro in the five to 10 years we can build over a hundred thousand classrooms—at iyan ang tinutukoy ng ating mahal na Presidente,” he added.
Aside from infrastructure, Angara expressed optimism that public school teachers will be more focused on teaching through an eased workload.
“By the end of next year, lahat ng 40,000 public schools natin, mayroong tinatawag na administrative officers,” he said, noting that public school teachers will no longer perform non-teaching tasks such as height and weight assessments for feeding programs as well as repair of malfunctioning laptops.
To further support both teachers and learners in the digital age, DepEd has begun distributing laptops and a total of 2 million learning materials, including books and classroom furniture, to around 46,000 public schools nationwide.
“Naniniwala ang publiko na kaya nating gawin iyong grand visions natin kapag nariresolba natin iyong day-to-day problems like delivering things on time. Kapag nakita nilang nagagawa natin iyan, maniniwala sila doon sa mga grandeng bisyon natin,” Angara said during the forum.
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