2 days ago
DepEd sees 27M enrollees for School Year 2025-2026
The Department of Education (DepEd) is expecting around 27 million enrollees from preschool to senior high school for School Year 2025 to 2026, Assistant Secretary Jocelyn Andaya said on Saturday.
With the growing population of students, Andaya said the DepEd continued to address the shortage of classrooms.
The public education system lacks 165,000 classrooms that the DepEd aims to resolve through public-private partnerships.
'We will be able to build 105,000 new classrooms, and we will accelerate it through the early procurement activities na pinupush natin ito. Nakikipag-coordinate closely tayo sa DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) sa ganitong bagay,' Andaya said in an interview with Super Radyo dzBB.
(We will be able to build 105,000 new classrooms, and we will accelerate it through the early procurement activities that we are pushing. We are closely coordinating with the DPWH on these things.)
'Ang gagawin natin ngayon ay titignan natin o kukumpunihin ang mga sira muna, at ating LGUs ay katuwang natin sa pag-purchase ng tables and chairs at pag-construct ng classrooms,' she added.
(What we will do now is we will look into or fix the broken items first, and our LGUs will assist us in purchasing tables and chairs and in constructing classrooms.)
DepEd said that they will be conducting Oplan Balik Eskwela, including the Brigada Eskwela, from June 9 to 13.
The program will help improve classroom conditions.
'Meron po tayong sira-sirang mga tables at chairs, at ginagawan na po natin ng paraan. Kasama po yan sa ating gawing Brigada Eskwela ngayong Monday hanggang Friday. Titignan po natin ang bawa't isang upuan ng mga bata para di sila masaktan; irerepair natin yun sa abot ng ating makakaya. Ongoing naman po ang ating procurement sa ganitong mga silya at mga desks,' said Andaya.
(We have broken tables and chairs, and we are resolving this. It is included in our Brigada Eskwela this Monday through Friday. We will check each chair so that the children will not get hurt, and we will repair it as much as we can. Our procurement for these chairs and desks is ongoing.)
'[Ang Brigada Eskwela] ay pagpapaganda sa ating mga paaralan, sa ating silid-aralan. Katuwang natin dito ang iba't ibang sektor ng pamahalaan at lipunan, pati ang pampribadong sektor, maglilinis tayo ng mga paaralan at eskwelahan,' she said.
([Ang Brigada Eskwela] aims to improve the state of our schools and classrooms. We are working with several sectors of the government and society, as well as private sectors, to clean schools.)
DepEd also hopes to reduce the teacher shortage this year.
'There are 20,000 new items. Pag mafill po natin yan ngayon, 32,000 na lang mahigit ang ating shortage,'' Andaya said.
(There are 20,000 new items. If we fill it up now, there will only be a shortage of more than 32,000.) —Jiselle Anne Casucian/VBL, GMA Integrated News
