ANGARA TO DEPED, SCHOOLS: BEEF UP FOR NEW SCHOOL YEAR

With enrolment season in full swing, Sen. Edgardo J. Angara today called on the Department of Education and all public and private schools to keep up with preparations to welcome the new batch of students in June.

"Education has become one of our weaker points as a nation recently, and we need immediate remedies to issues such as the lack of books and classrooms, as well as low enrolment levels in rural areas," called Angara, former President of the University of the Philippines.

Further, Angara urged DepEd to intensify on its Oplan Balik Eskwela program to not only ensure smooth entry of students into the new academic year, but also extend its efforts to secure sufficient materials especially in public schools and ensure that enrolled students will report to classes.

The school year formally opens on 14 June, and public schools suffer a 1:50 classroom-student ratio on a double-shift scenario. This is far from the ideal 1:30 ratio, making class size in public schools a range of 60-100 students per classroom.

Angara encouraged the parents and guardians to be aggressive in enrolling their children to schools despite warnings that enrolment turnout this year will again exceed the ideal levels. "This will always be an issue but it should not stop us from providing education to our children," he said.

In last year's national budget hearings Angara proposed to create an inter-agency committee to submit to the Committee on Education of both houses of Congress a comprehensive school building program. This authorizes the DepEd to enter into build-operate-transfer, build-transfer, build-lease-transfer or rehabilitate-operate-transfer schemes with pre-qualified private contractors for the design, financing, construction and maintenance of school buildings.