THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers said that the number of usable classrooms in the country dipped as the Department of Education failed to repair those that were damaged by calamities.

Based on its ground reports gathered through its Bantay Balik-Eskwela Hotline, numerous classrooms in Central Visayas damaged by Typhoon Odette in December 2021 remain unrehabilitated.

ACT said that there are 20 damaged classrooms in Mabolo National High School, 20 in Labangon Elementary School, 18 in Camp Lapu-lapu Elementary School and 13 in Abellana National High School, all in Cebu City.

Reports also said that an entire building in Zapatera Elementary School in Sikatuna also in Cebu City is totally unusable. The school also has no classroom available for Senior High School students.

The reports also revealed that no repairs were done to classrooms in the DepEd divisions of Cebu City, Lapu-lapu City and Mandaue City. Local education officials said they are still waiting for feedback from the DepEd Central School on the plans for the damaged classrooms.

“Ayon sa Office of the President, may natira pang halos P700 milyon na calamity fund para sa taong 2021, at may P14.7 bilyon pa para sa taong ito. Nasaan ang mga pondong ito at bakit hindi kaagad na ginamit para maipakumpuni ang mga klasrum na nasira ng kalamidad gayung ipinag-utos naman nila ang lahatang pagbalik sa face-to-face classes?” Vladimer Quetua, the group’s chairperson, said.

“The situation of our schools now is really wretched. State neglect, especially in the past two years under the pandemic, is very palpable. Up to this date, many schools cannot finalize their class plans mainly due to classroom shortage – how many of the enrolled students can be accommodated in face-to-face classes or how many days will classes meet face-to-face,” Quetua added.

ACT also conducted an online survey among 1022 public school teachers on the preparedness of schools for August 22 class opening. Based on the results, 67 percent of the respondents said that their schools have insufficient classrooms.

The survey revealed that 34 percent of the respondents do not know how many of the students population can be accommodated for in-person classes and 30 percent still have no idea how many days will they require students to go to school for in-classroom learning.

“Humihiling po kami ng paumanhin sa mga magulang na maraming tanong pero hindi namin masagot—kung papupuntahin na ba sa paaralan ang kanilang anak sa Lunes, kung ano ang schedule ng klase ng kanilang mga anak, kung anong school materials ang dapat bilhin at dalhin, at iba pa. Sa totoo po, kahit kami ay hindi pa rin alam ang maraming bagay hanggang sa ngayon,” Quetua said.

ACT reiterated its demand for the government to act swiftly and lay-out a long-term plan that will resolve the grave classroom shortage in the country.

The group said that band-aid solutions such as class shifting and setting up of temporary learning spaces would simply not do if the government wants education to recover from the crisis.