When Rooms Run out and Teachers Stretch Thin
Have you ever tried studying in a room constructed for 30 students but stuffed with 50? For many
Filipino students, it's usual, and they are already accustomed to it; as they say, "the more the merrier."
But what about our teachers? To our teachers, it feels like no one is listening; it's like they are not aware
of you being there, being muted by your own students' voices, managing noises instead of learning,and
the most hurtful thing? Not even a single word have they comprehended from everything you have said.
According to DepEd, the inadequacy of school classrooms in the country is approximately 165,000 as of
2025, a shortage that makes students in huge numbers forced to stay and squeeze themselves in one
classroom, which makes it hard to concentrate, not to mention the hot climate nowadays.
In recent years, only a fragment of promised classrooms were fulfilled and accomplished, as the COA
(Commission on Audit) indicated.During President Marcos's State of the Nation Address (SONA) he
promised to build at least 40,000 classrooms before his presidential term ends in 2028.
Teachers are also overwhelmed because of this situation.As of May 2025, there are at least 30,000
teacher vacancies, on the basis of independent evaluations, while the real gaps are estimated to be
more.Being crowded means a short period of time for each student, it gives more stress to educators,
and speeds up exhaustion.
Some may argue that the government does not care at all and are not willing to allocate the needed
funds for the nationwide classroom construction.But even if the government is able to allocate such
budget,without transparency and coherent usage of these funds,the deficit will still rise and affect
billions.
Based on the data from the Philippine News Agency (PNA), DepEd planned to spend at least 397 billion
pesos to build the required classrooms,but due to issues such as weak prioritization by agencies, funding
issues and "contractor" management problems, it delayed the said progress.
This upcoming World Teachers’ Day is expected to thank our educators especially our advisers, but the
best gifts are not flowers or letters. It is transparency, accountability,and integrity—being accountable
Have you ever tried studying in a room constructed for 30 students but stuffed with 50? For many
Filipino students, it's usual, and they are already accustomed to it; as they say, "the more the merrier."
But what about our teachers? To our teachers, it feels like no one is listening; it's like they are not aware
of you being there, being muted by your own students' voices, managing noises instead of learning,and
the most hurtful thing? Not even a single word have they comprehended from everything you have said.
According to DepEd, the inadequacy of school classrooms in the country is approximately 165,000 as of
2025, a shortage that makes students in huge numbers forced to stay and squeeze themselves in one
classroom, which makes it hard to concentrate, not to mention the hot climate nowadays.
In recent years, only a fragment of promised classrooms were fulfilled and accomplished, as the COA
(Commission on Audit) indicated.During President Marcos's State of the Nation Address (SONA) he
promised to build at least 40,000 classrooms before his presidential term ends in 2028.
Teachers are also overwhelmed because of this situation.As of May 2025, there are at least 30,000
teacher vacancies, on the basis of independent evaluations, while the real gaps are estimated to be
more.Being crowded means a short period of time for each student, it gives more stress to educators,
and speeds up exhaustion.
Some may argue that the government does not care at all and are not willing to allocate the needed
funds for the nationwide classroom construction.But even if the government is able to allocate such
budget,without transparency and coherent usage of these funds,the deficit will still rise and affect
billions.
Based on the data from the Philippine News Agency (PNA), DepEd planned to spend at least 397 billion
pesos to build the required classrooms,but due to issues such as weak prioritization by agencies, funding
issues and "contractor" management problems, it delayed the said progress.
This upcoming World Teachers’ Day is expected to thank our educators especially our advisers, but the
best gifts are not flowers or letters. It is transparency, accountability,and integrity—being accountable
