SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian admitted that solving the problems of the education sector is not an easy task especially for the Department of Education given the huge challenges it faces.

One big problem he cited is the lack of ample budget to build schools and repair classrooms. For next year, the government allotted P15 billion for this purpose.

“Lumalabas na P430 billion ang kailangan natin para sa classrooms lang. Ang kabuuang budget ng DepEd is P678 billion. Pero ang kakailanganin for classroom alone para makahabol tayo is P430 billion. Pero ang nailagay lang ngayon is close to about P15 billion, hindi ganun kalakihan,” Gatchalian said.

“Ang ating sektor ng edukasyon ay nahaharap sa isang matinding hamon dahil nga ngayon lang tayo nakakabalik sa normal at ngayon lang nagbukas ang ating mga paaralan,” he added.

The senator also reiterated his call for the DepEd to focus on basic competencies like English and Mathematics.

“Talagang dapat bumalik tayo sa basics. Ang nakikita ko dito mag-concentrate muna tayo sa Reading and Math dahil lumalabas almost 90 percent ng ating 10 year old hindi marunong magbasa. Kung hindi ka marunong magbasa, hindi ka rin marunong magbilang,” he said.

“Turuan natin silang magbasa. Turuan natin silang magbilang para pagpasok nila ng senior high school ay mas madali na sa kanila,” he added.