MANILA — The Department of Education assured Thursday it would prioritize the construction of more school buildings and classrooms as overcrowding remained a problem at the start of the new school year.

"That is a top priority of this administration. Gusto nating magpatayo ng more school buildings, classrooms, as well as supply enough school furniture for our learners and teachers," DepEd Spokesperson Michael Poa said in a press conference.

(That is a top priority of this administration. We want to build more school buildings and classrooms as well as supply enough school furniture for our learners and teachers.)

Poa was reacting to a statement issued Wednesday by the Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC), which reiterated its demand for the DepEd to prioritize the construction of classrooms and hiring of teachers.

"Nakita naman po natin nitong first 3 weeks pa lang ng pasukan talagang problemado na ang ating mga paaralan. Maraming kulang na classrooms at kung sapat man ang classroom, wala namang teachers to handle classes," TDC Chairperson Benjo Basas, a high school teacher in Caloocan City, said in a statement.

(We saw in the first 3 weeks of classes that our schools are still dealing with problems. We still lack a lot of classrooms and if there's sufficient classrooms, there aren't enough teachers to handle classes.)

• 'Cramped' classrooms seen on 1st day of in-person classes
• Shifting ipinatutupad sa mga eskuwelahan dahil sa kakulangan ng classroom

Poa said the DepEd has asked Congress for a higher budget to construct school buildings, repair classrooms and provide sufficient school furniture.

"But we have to remind the general public na gusto man nating matapos iyan sa isang taon (that even though we want to accomplish this in a year), that will not be realistic," he said.

"Because we have budget constraints and we have to consider the absorptive capacity of [Department of Public Works and Highways] in putting up these school buildings," he added.

Teachers

To quickly address the shortage of teachers in some schools, the DepEd is allowing the transfer of educators from schools with excess staff, Poa explained.

"Ang pinakamabilis na intervention na ginagawa ay doon sa schools with excess teaching staff, subject to rules on transfer, we transfer these teachers doon sa may kakulangan," he said.

(The fastest intervention we're doing is transferring teachers from schools with excess teaching staff to schools that are short on teachers, subject to rules on transfer.)

The DepEd has issued a memorandum reminding field offices to fill vacant teaching items to ensure that schools have an adequate workforce.

The agency is also looking at hiring about 10,000 new teachers next year, depending on the budget.

"For next year, we are also looking, as per our budget, to hire more teachers dahil naintindihan natin na may situwasyon na loaded talaga ang ating teachers and that's something we are bent on resolving," Poa said.

(For next year, we are also looking, as per our budget, to hire more teachers because we understand the situation that our teachers are loaded with work and that's something we are bent on resolving.)

Education officials earlier said there is a shortage of around 91,000 classrooms but the figure was halved as schools implemented shifting and blended learning at the start of School Year 2022-2023.

But schools will only be allowed to implement distance and blended learning until late October after the DepEd ordered the resumption of 5 days of in-person classes by November 2.

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