Public school classes start June 5 - DECS

Classes in public elementary and high schools will start next Monday, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) announced yesterday.

Education Secretary Andrew Gonzalez said private schools can open on another date as long as it is not later than the third Monday of June.

"Private schools may deviate from the (June 5) schedule provided they meet the minimum number of class days," he said.

Gonzalez said the June 5 opening of public schools will not be postponed even in strife-torn areas in Mindanao and that classes would end on March 30 next year to complete the required 250 class days.

The DECS is closely monitoring the situation in war-stricken places for any development that might require classes to be suspended or school personnel to be pulled out, he added.

Gonzalez said the DECS is prepared to accommodate 18.4 million students in public schools on Monday and that they had adopted measures to solve the shortage in classrooms, textbooks, and teachers.

He said 56 students will be enrolled in each class to maximize the number of teachers available to handle subjects in public schools.

The DECS had proposed to hire some 10,000 teachers, but that their budget allowed them to take in only 5,000 new teachers this year, he added.

Gonzalez said the DECS had received only P1.2 billion for the purchase of 23.2 million textbooks to meet a 90-million textbook shortage.

But the textbook-student ratio is expected to improve from 1:4 to 1:2 this year through the financial support of institutions like the World Bank, he added.

Gonzalez said school officials have instructions to use laboratories, libraries, and canteens as classrooms as there is a backlog of 28,139 classrooms throughout the country.

Although the DECS had received some P2.5 billion from the School Building Program, P8.5 billion is actually needed to construct more classrooms, he added.

He said the DECS has coordinated with local government units to allow students to use as classrooms barangay halls, community gymnasiums, and other government facilities.