By Katrina Gracia Consebido
The Department of Education (DepEd) said on Tuesday, Aug.23, shifting schedules and blended learning are being implemented in various schools to address the classroom shortage in the country.
In a radio interview, DepEd Spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa said various schools have ways and strategies to address classroom shortages, including dividing classrooms and implementing shifting schedules and blended learning.
“But with the strategies being implemented by most of our schools, we have lowered the shortage to around 40,000,” Poa said.
“We had a meeting with the regional directors to map all those resource gaps in terms of classrooms… In most areas, meron po tayong shifting schedules, we are also employing blended learning, wherein blended learning can mean three days in school or two days out of school, or sometimes for other cases, one whole week in school, and another whole week at home,” he added.
Poa said those are just their short term plans and they have already proposed a budget of P86.5 billion in building new classrooms in 2023.
“That’s a short term intervention, but with the long term plans, we have allocated around P86.5 billion for our 2023 budget. Because we’re hoping to use that money para po mabawasan na natin ‘yung classroom shortage so we can start constructing new classrooms next year,” he added.
“I think the P86.5 billion is allocated to build around 34,000 classrooms.”
Meanwhile, DepEd said over 28 million students have enrolled for the resumption of in-person classes this school year. –gb
