Schools in Mandaue need more teachers

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Education in Mandaue City badly needs additional teachers in view of the increasing student population in public elementary and high schools.

With a ratio of eighty students to one teacher, the DepEd needs 100 teachers, 60 for the elementary level and 40 for the high school.

Aside from the shortage of teachers, DepEd also has to deal with the shortage in classrooms, books, and other facilities which have yet to be resolved.

DepEd Administrative Officer Benjamin Tiongzon said the Mandaue City Central School alone needs 16 to 20 teachers for the elementary level and 12 to 15 teachers for high school and still other schools badly need teachers.

The total student population last year was 35,943 but this year it climbed to 36,951, and schools are still accepting late enrollees.

“Before we had the ratio of 1:40 which was the ideal ratio in a class until we moved it to 1:50 but now we have 1:80 which means we have too many students for our teachers. We also lack classrooms since the other building is already unsafe,” Tiongzon said.

A two-story dilapidated building of the school was ready for demolition but only classes from the second floor relocated because the ambiance of the rooms where the students were to transfer are not fit to turned into classrooms.

To try to solve the problem, DepEd will submit a letter to the office of the mayor asking for additional 20 teachers.

This will be discussed during the Regional Executive Conference on June 23 together with DepEd superintendents and Mayor Jonas Cortes.

Later, a report will be made and submitted to the DepEd Regional Office.

Earlier this week, Tiongzon said the department had planned to hold two sessions of classes to address the rising population. — THE FREEMAN