Education for all

                   

Last Monday, June 1, public schools nationwide opened their doors for the start of a new schoolyear.

To prepare for the opening of classes, the Department of Education even launched a nationwide Brigada Eskwela to harness public participation to repair and hold clean-up activities in public schools.

According to the department, around 23 million students would return to various public elementary and high schools across the country.

While the DepEd has acknowledged that the country still needs additional classrooms, Education Secretary Armin Luistro says the reported shortages are not backlogs, but part of the annual gaps caused by movement of students.

Luistro has also given assurances that on a national scale, the number of reported gaps is minimal and that the principals and superintendents have marching orders to address these problems.

In Quezon City, for example, classroom gap problems have been reported in populated areas in at least three districts, but Mayor Herbert Bautista says the city government has already addressed this problem. 

The Constitution provides that the state shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make education accessible to all.

Consistent with this constitutional mandate, education receives the biggest allocation in the government's annual budget.

But even if we see that the education budget grows bigger each year, it appears that efforts by government to make education accessible to all leave much to be desired.

Every year, due in part to the increase in population, we need additional classrooms and more teachers, not to mention better facilities. But government can only do so much given budgetary constraints. 

Nevertheless, the DepEd deserves kudos doing what it can to address the perennial problems of education in this country. We must also commend the thousands of public school teachers who mold the minds of young Filipinos and are  doing their best in performing their duties despite low pay and long hours. They deserve the gratitude of our people because they are helping shape the future of our nation.      

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