Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 21) — An advocacy group on Friday urged the Department of Education (DepEd) to first take note of conditions in each locality before institutionalizing the blended learning setup in all schools.
The Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) pointed out that not all public schools are experiencing a shortage of classrooms – the reason behind DepEd’s proposal.
“We must decentralize delivery…Even this issue of classrooms is not equal across the country. So parang gagawa tayo ng [So it’s like we will create a] national solution for a problem that might not be a problem in your locality,” PBEd president Chito Salazar told a press briefing.
Early this month, DepEd spokesperson Michael Poa said the agency has presented to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. its plan to make blended learning a permanent mode of instruction to address the shortage of classrooms.
According to PBEd’s findings, the Philippines has a shortage of 167,901 classrooms. The organization said around ₱420 billion is needed to address the problem.
The Department of Budget and Management in May released ₱15.1 billion to DepEd for the construction of 4,912 classrooms across 1,194 sites nationwide.
“So alangang i-impose natin yung blended (learning) sa hindi naman problema ang classroom [We shouldn’t impose blended learning in areas that do not have problems with classrooms]. We believe that many education solutions must be based on local conditions. So local governments must be involved in many decisions,” Salazar added.
