EDITORIAL - No more backlogs

Except in the areas flattened by Typhoon Yolanda and a powerful earthquake last year, there is no more classroom shortage, according to education officials. President Aquino announced the accomplishment recently at the ceremonial turnover of classrooms at the Carmona National High School in Cavite. He said the government even slightly exceeded its target of building 66,800 classrooms.

This is welcome news, although with rapid population growth, it won’t take long before public school facilities will again not be enough to accommodate the number of students. The government will also have to rush the repair or construction of schoolhouses in the disaster zones.

With no more classroom shortage, the government can focus on the other needs of the public school system. At the height of the shortage, several schools were forced to hold classes in two or even three shifts daily, cutting the number of hours that students spent in class and increasing the burden on already overworked teachers.

Such schools typically also suffered from a lack of almost all the materials needed for proper learning. Education officials report that some of the major supply shortages have been addressed, with backlogs of 62 million in textbooks and 2.5 million in chairs solved. The government is also enhancing compensation packages to lure more teachers to the public school system and prevent educators from working overseas.

Education officials report that supply shortages were addressed through a combination of funds from the national and local governments, local and foreign donations, plus projects under the private-public partnership program. The same factors should help address other problems in basic education, including the lack of facilities for information and communication technology. Many schools also have inadequate sanitation facilities, preventing students from observing basic hygiene such as washing their hands with soap and water before and after meals.

Then there’s the overall quality itself of Philippine education, which may seem good enough for Filipinos but which suffers in comparison with more competitive Asian economies. Until a few decades ago, the Philippines was seen as a regional leader in education, particularly in higher learning. With sufficient investments and political will, the country should be able to regain that lead.