The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines warned that the Department of Education’s proposed “4+1” blended learning scheme and other privatization-oriented measures will not resolve the country’s worsening classroom shortage and may instead shift the burden of the crisis onto students, families, and local governments.
ACT Chairperson Ruby Bernardo said the plan to implement four days of on-site classes and one day of online learning effectively adjusts schooling around the shortage of classrooms rather than addressing the root of the problem.
“The 4+1 blended learning scheme, leasing or purchasing private buildings, and subsidizing the education of more students in private schools are not the solution to the severe classroom shortage. If the government is truly serious about improving the quality of education and ensuring that the children and the youth can access it, it must match the growing shortages with adequate funding. This is a responsibility the government has long failed to fulfill,” said Ruby Bernardo, ACT Chairperson.
“Ipinapasa na naman ng gobyerno ang bigat ng kakulangan sa silid-aralan sa mga guro, mag-aaral, at kanilang mga pamilya na dodoble pa ang gastos para makasabay sa blended learning. Sa pagsirit ng presyo ng bilihin at iba pang gastusin ngayon, dagdag-problema pa sa mga guro at magulang saan huhugutin ang gastos sa internet o data at gadgets. Bagsak din ang kalidad ng internet infrastructure at hindi lahat ay maayos na espasyo sa bahay para sa online class. Sa malamang ay wala itong magiging pagkakaiba sa dinanas ng mga guro at bata noong pandemya,” added Bernardo.
The group stressed that the classroom shortage is not a new problem but the result of decades of chronic underfunding in the education sector.
“For years, teachers have warned that congestion in public schools would worsen if the government continued to rely on temporary and privatized solutions instead of decisively expanding public school infrastructure,” Bernardo stated.
ACT also raised concern over DepEd’s parallel push to expand vouchers to primary education, lease or acquire private properties for classrooms, and pursue additional school infrastructure projects through public-private partnerships.
“These measures follow the same policy direction we have seen for decades: treating privatization as the solution to congestion in public schools. Instead of building sufficient publicly owned classrooms, the State repeatedly turns to leasing, PPPs, and subsidies to private institutions,” Bernardo explained.
According to ACT, such measures risk further weakening the State’s responsibility to provide accessible and quality public education.
ACT acknowledged the role of local governments in supporting education programs but warned that relying heavily on LGUs to implement classroom construction could deepen inequalities between areas with strong local revenues and those with limited resources.
“Hindi pare-pareho ang kakayahan ng mga LGU. Kung ipapasa sa kanila ang malaking bahagi ng responsibilidad sa classroom construction, lalong lalaki ang agwat sa pagitan ng mayayamang lungsod at mahihirap na probinsya,” Bernardo pointed out.
ACT also criticized the National Education Plan for targeting to address only 18–30% of the current backlog and projected deficit in classrooms over the next ten years, despite projections that the deficit could grow from the current 165,000 classrooms to nearly 240,000 by 2035.
“With this target, the government clearly shows that it lacks the political will to significantly address the chronic classroom shortage, contradicting its own claim that ensuring students become functionally literate is a ‘key priority,’” Bernardo hit.
ACT reiterated that addressing the classroom crisis requires a large-scale, nationally coordinated program to construct durable and disaster-resilient classrooms, rehabilitate aging school buildings, and hire sufficient numbers of teachers.
The group called on the Marcos administration to abandon stopgap and privatization-oriented measures and instead commit to sustained public investment in education infrastructure.#
