No classrooms? Don't worry, be happy!

I only caught a portion of it, so I do not know exactly what the television news report I saw last Thursday led off. But in the portion I saw, I clearly saw and distinctly heard education secretary Armin Luistro outline how he intends to meet the challenge posed by lack of classrooms.

 Before we go there, however, let us first consider that Luistro, against widespread and well-meaning opposition, is bent on forging ahead with his plan to add two more years to basic education.

 Luistro, in an even earlier news report, bragged that his plan enjoys “unanimous” support from every region in the country where he conducted public hearings regarding the plan. That is a big fat lie. 

 There were no such public hearings. Or if there were, the media certainly knew nothing about them, so they could not have been public in the true sense of the word. For all we know, the participants were all DepEd personnel. No wonder he crows about unanimity.

 Anyway, let it be categorically said that people are not opposed to the addition of two years per se. What is being opposed is the timing. Oppositors believe that there are other, more pressing challenges facing Philippine education that Luistro needs to face first.

 It is the practical and logical thinking of many that no matter how many years Luistro adds to basic education, the additional time will not bring about the gains he hopes to achieve because the circumstances are simply not conducive to them at this time.

 Now, back to the shortage of classrooms, because this is one of the many arguments held forth by many against the additional two years of basic education. To the oppositors, how can two more years mean anything when there are even no classrooms to hold classes in.

 According to official government estimates, the country lacks some 66,000 classrooms. But government, despite the huge budget for education, simply cannot build quickly enough to wipe out the shortage before being overtaken by the yearly surge of children added to the school system.

 Yet, the lack of classrooms is just one of the many problems contributing to the deterioration of the overall quality of Philippine education. There are so many others. But let us not get into them now. Let us focus on classroom lack and how Luistro hopes to deal with it.

 In the television news report I caught last Thursday, Luistro was sought out for a reaction to the glaringly miserable state of classrooms shown in video footages of the opening of classes the Monday before.

 In those footages, the universal images that people saw were of classrooms packed with from 60 to 70 students, nearly a third of whom have to sit on the floor because of the absence of chairs. And with no ventilation, the children were seen fanning themselves like crazy.

 It was very clear from these television images that no amount of years added to the curriculum can bring about the quality of education that Luistro envisions if the students have to go through these agonizing circumstances. No learning can ever take place in hell.

 But I was really floored when, asked by reporters how he proposes to get by with the unfillable shortage of classrooms, Luistro came up with the most ludicrous answer I have ever heard from any government official.

 According to Luistro, the lack of classrooms is really no problem because students do not need to be in classrooms all the time anyway. According to the education secretary of the Philippines, students can go to Internet cafès or use their cellphones to study their lessons.

I have never seen any government official so out of touch with his basic responsibility. I will not comment anymore on his proposed solution to the lack of classrooms. All I can say is that, with his kind of thinking, Philippine education will soon go into a tailspin.