Thoughts on ‘Schools return, and so do their problems’

As I listened last weekend to my blockmate in our graduate studies class share her experience as a high school teacher in a public school struggling with classroom shortage, the article by Anna Cristina Tuazon (see “Schools return, and so do their problems,” Safe Space, 6/19/25), immediately came to mind.

As mentioned in the article, “The classroom shortage seems to be getting worse, with a current gap of 165,000 classrooms.” This observation resonates with what my blockmate shared—students crammed into overcrowded rooms, some forced to sit on the floor due to a lack of chairs, and others enduring entire class periods without proper learning materials. The student-teacher ratio also soars to 40 or 50 students per teacher, making it nearly impossible to deliver quality instruction.

In the Philippines, the quality of education can definitely be improved through higher and well-allocated budget—to address the escalating and perennial classroom shortage. However, it is important to recognize that classroom shortage is just one of the many horrors embedded in the country’s educational system. Due to poor facilities and insufficient learning resources, lack of basic utilities and shortage of teachers in some schools, students are seemingly being deprived of an environment conducive to learning.

Another concern emphasized in Tuazon’s article is the state of the country’s teaching workforce. I agree with her suggestion: “We can accelerate teacher training by strengthening internships at schools, where education majors can become teaching assistants in public schools.” I think this strategy would not only provide aspiring public school teachers with real-world experience but also help reduce the burdens faced by public school teachers, many of them overworked, underpaid, and expected to deliver beyond what their limited resources allow—all while receiving minimal institutional support.

Let’s still pray and hope for the best—for our teachers, our students, our education system, and our country as we face all these problems.