4.5 M pupils lack chairs, desks

One out of four or 4.5 million public school students nationwide have no chairs or desks to use in school, a Department of Education (DepEd) official disclosed yesterday.

With this, Education Undersecretary for Finance and Management Juan Miguel Luz appealed to local government units (LGUs) to spend the millions of pesos in special education funds from their internal revenue allotment (IRA) to purchase sturdy armchairs or school desks and chairs.

Luz said the figures came from a survey the DepEd recently undertook to assess the shortage of school furniture.

The DepEd places the student population in public elementary and high schools at 16 million.

"Four and a half million kids don’t have desks or chairs all over the country. Some more than others. Makati walang problema yan, Quezon City walang problema (That’s not a problem in Makati and Quezon cities) but the other divisions have problems and 4.5 million students roughly, we have shortages (at) all levels," Luz told reporters.

The education official noted spending on school furniture was also wiser for LGUs since it would stimulate their local economies because the chairs and desks are "locally produced."

"Unlike textbooks, which are really Manila-based. This (Metro Manila) is where the publishers are. Buying school furniture, the money will stay in your municipality," Luz said.

The DepEd, he said, already has its hands full with the procurement of textbooks — the process of which they are currently reforming to ensure that they buy them at lower prices while ensuring good quality.

A problem however that has surfaced in textbook procurement was that some LGUs buy theirs at prices that are too high.

Education officials observed unscrupulous publishers were turning to the LGUs to sell overpriced books because of the strict procurement process being implemented by the DepEd.

"We tell the local school boards not to buy textbooks. We have enough textbooks. Because we (DepEd) have P900 to P1 billion for it, we have more than enough," Luz stressed. "We’re telling the school boards, if you want to spend money, spend it on furniture."

He stressed that contrary to perception, textbooks in public schools are of quality, particularly those bought by the DepEd starting 2002 when reform measures were put in place by former education secretaries Raul Roco and Edilberto de Jesus.

Luz attributed this to the transparent bidding and rigorous content evaluation of the delivered books.

However, he said he was not willing to vouch for the quality of those bought before reforms in the department were undertaken.

It was learned that there are currently around 110 million textbooks, bought before the reformed textbook procurement process was put into motion in 2002.

The DepEd was recently placed on the "hot seat" when an academic supervisor of a Quezon City private school exposed that a history textbook being used by public high school students has 431 factual and grammatical errors.

The education department said it will investigate the claim of educator Antonio Calipjo-Go.