Toward Improving the Classroom Shortage Determinant

This paper deals with the standard currently employed by the Department of Education
(DepEd) to gauge classroom requirements in public elementary and secondary schools.
Pursuant to RA 7880 or the Fair and Equitable Access to Education Act, there shall be at most
45 students in a classroom. This paper will provide an overview on how this standard came into
being and the way forward in terms of how this standard can be further improved toward the
betterment of the basic education landscape in the country.

The Past

RA 7880 (commonly referred to as Roxas Law, nicknamed after its author, then Rep.
Manuel ‘Mar’ Roxas II), was passed into law on February 20, 1995. This is in response to the
need for the equitable allocation of the budget of Department of Education, Culture and Sports
(predecessor of DepEd) for capital outlay. This is the provision of the Department’s budget for
the acquisition and improvement of school sites; construction, replacement, rehabilitation, and
repair of school facilities; and acquisition of furniture, fixtures, and equipment.
The introduction of the standard for determining classroom shortage has been the law’s
way of operationalizing equity. RA 7880 states that 40% of DepEd’s total capital outlay must be
allocated to those legislative districts with classroom shortages. Until now, this serves as the
Department’s basis for distributing its capital outlay.
It is unclear however where the author of the law based the 45:1 ideal student-classroom
ratio. Nonetheless, the mention of the average class size (30-40) recorded in School Year 1993-
1994 in the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 7880 indicates that previous years’ data
may be its basis.

The Computation

According to the IRR of RA 7880, classroom shortage refers to the number of

classrooms needed by a school over and above its existing number of classrooms to comply
with the ideal student-classroom ratio. Only to be included in computing classroom shortage are
classrooms exclusively used for instructional purposes and thus exclude offices, laboratories,
workshops, and others.
The classroom requirement in a school is computed by dividing the total number of
students in the school by 45. Classroom shortage happens when the classroom requirement is
greater than the existing number of classrooms in the school.

The Present

However, it seems like the country still fell short of its target two decades after the
passing of RA 7880. In 2015, Figueroa et al. conducted a spatial analysis study to identify
disparities in Philippine public school facilities. Their study found out that congestion still exists
in both public elementary and secondary schools. In the National Capital Region, on the
average, there were 91 students per classroom. This is more than 100% higher than the ideal
45:1 student-classroom ratio. There were also 26 provinces (see Annex A for the list) with ratios
higher than the 45 threshold. The five provinces found to have the highest number of students
per classroom were Saranggani with 74; Rizal and Northern Samar with 60 each; Lanao del
Norte with 59; and Cavite and Masbate with 58.
 On the other hand, Alba(2010) found out that while congestion in many schools exist
there are still some which are undersubscribed in SY 2007-2008. For instance, in NCR there
were round 350,000 excess students in 391-393 public elementary schools even if there are still
40,000 empty seats in 118-120 other schools in the region.
Based on the most recent data, Benjie Valbuena, the national chair of the Alliance of
Concerned Teachers-Philippines (ACT-Philippines), said that the estimated classroom backlog
in 2017 is at 113,995. DepEd Undersecretary Alain Pascua also mentioned that in NCR alone,
there were 18,058 required new classrooms so that the ideal situation of one shift with 45
students per classroom is achieved (Geronimo, 2017).

The Future

While the previous section indicates non-compliance of several schools in the class size
standard pursuant to RA 7880, it is still recommended for DepEd to revise this standard.
It should be noted that one size does not fit all. With the differences primarily in terms of
level of attentiveness and comprehension among students of varying ages, having a uniform
recommended student-classroom ratio for both elementary and secondary levels may not be
appropriate. It is highly recommended that DepEd crafts varying standards per Grade level for
the student-classroom ratio similar to what it’s currently doing for ascertaining teacher
requirements. Just recently, DepEd Undersecretary for Planning and Field Operations Jesus
Mateo revealed that the Department adopted the following parameters for the student-teacher
ratio targets: 25:1 for Kindergarten; 30:1 for Grades 1-2; 35:1 for Grades 3-4; and 40:1 for
Grades 5-12 (Hernando-Malipot, 2008).
Also, the 45:1 student-classroom ratio may not also applicable to Special Education
(SPED) classes. Class size this big composed of differently-abled students may be hard for a
teacher to handle.
Another thing, adherence to the minimum size of classroom is not considered in
computing for the classroom shortage. For instance, a school may divide the 7m x 7m
classroom for elementary into two just to satisfy the need for classrooms. It is recommended
that classrooms with similar condition must not be included in the computation.
Most importantly, the recommended student-classroom ratio promotes class size way
below than the international average. Data from United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics, classrooms in the Philippines are
considered the most crowded in Asia. In the elementary level, average class size is at 43.9. This
is much higher than Malaysia (31.7), Thailand (22.9), Japan (28.6), and India (40). For the
secondary level, the national average is at 56.1 which is again higher than that of Malaysia (34),
Thailand (41.5), Japan (33.9), and India (39) (GMANews, 2007). Also, the average class size in
the 35 member countries of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is 23.
In the HLURB CLUP Guidebook, it was mentioned that DepEd is already recommending
LGUs to use the 35:1 student-teacher and student-classroom ratio in the elementary level and
40:1 for the high school level on the analysis for the drafting of their Comprehensive Land Use
Plan. This will enjoin LGUs to allocate a bigger share of their Special Education Fund for the
acquisition of new lot for school sites, establishment of new classrooms, and other interventions
that would complement DepEd’s efforts to solve the classroom deficit. Unfortunately, as this still
appears as a recommendation, DepEd may not easily require LGUs to adopt this new standard.
With that, it may be the right time for the lawmakers to amend the standard requirement
set by RA 7880 to reflect the divergent characteristics of the students and to address the need
to make the quality of the country’s education to be at par with global norms. Who knows,
elevating the standard requirement may induce greater pressure to DepEd and local
government units to heighten their efforts to address classroom backlog.
References:
 Alba, Michael. Congestion in public elementary schools. In Search of A Human Face: 15
Years of Knowledge Building for Human Development in the Philippines. Quezon City:
Human Development Network. (2010). 238–247

 Department of Education. Education facilities manual. Pasig City, Philippines: Physical

Facilities and Schools Engineering Division, Office of Planning Service, Department of
Education. (2010).

 Figueroa, Ligaya Leah, Samsung Lim, and Jihyun Lee. "Spatial Analysis to Identify
Disparities in Philippine Public School Facilities." Regional Studies, Regional Science 3,
no. 1 (2015): 1-27. doi:10.1080/21681376.2015.1099465.

 Geronimo,Jee G. How DepEd plans to address PH classroom shortage. Rappler.

(2017).

 GMANews. Back-to-school woes worse than ever - youth groups. Retrieved from
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/44915/back-to-school-woes-worse-than-
ever-youth-groups/story/. (2007).

 Hernando-Malipot, M. DepEd reaffirms effort to achieve ideal class size, teacher-student

ratio. Manila Bulletin, (2018).

 Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board. CLUP Guidebook: A Guide to Comprehensive
Land Use Plan Preparation. (Vol. 2). Quezon City: Policy Development Group, HLURB,
(2014).

 OECD. Education Indicators in Focus, (2011).

 RA 7880: Fair and Equitable Access to Education Act

 Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 7880

 Annex A
List of Provinces with Student-Classroom Ratio Higher than 45:1

Ave. Number of Students

Province
per Classroom
1. Saranggani 74
2. Rizal 60
3. Northern Samar 60
4. Lanao del Norte 59
5. Cavite 58
6. Masbate 58
7. Bulacan 56
8. North Cotabato 55
9. Laguna 54
10. Bukidnon 54
11. Negros Oriental 51
12. Camarines Sur 50
13. Zamboanga Sibugay 50
14. Occidental Mindoro 49
15. Sultan Kudarat 49
16. Agusan del Sur 49
17. Samar 48
18. Davao del Sur 48
19. South Cotabato 48
20. Cebu 47
21. Bataan 46
22. Palawan 46
23. Albay 46
24. Leyte 46
25. Compostela Valley 46
26. Agusan del Norte 46

Source: Figueroa, L. L., Lim, S. & Lee, J. (2016) Spatial analysis to identify disparities in
Philippine public school facilities, Regional Studies, Regional Science, 3:1, 1-27, DOI:
10.1080/21681376.2015.1099465