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50 students per class may revise school schedule

For lack of BCNHS classrooms

BAGUIO CITY (June 15) — For lack of classrooms, students of the Baguio City National High School (BCNHS) will be forced to go on a revised time schedule that reduces class hours per subject up to a total of 60 minutes weekly.

The Department of Education (DepEd) reportedly gave school boards enough leeway to decide on schemes to address the growing need for classrooms. The BCNHS school board noted the low quality of instruction in the past when there were 70-80 students per class. This observation prompted school authorities to accommodate only 50 students per classroom this year. However, the BCNHS enrolment this school year requires 50 to 60 more classrooms to accommodate all enrollees. It has only 110 classrooms.

The BCNHS school board consulted parents of students enrolled in regular classes on two schemes it is proposing to remedy the shortage in classrooms this school year.

In a parents and teachers’ meeting on June 15, BCNHS Principal Dr. Elma Donaal asked parents to help the school board decide on which scheme to adopt.

The first option requires daily half-day classes for all year levels in the 4-year high school curriculum. The second scheme is a 3-day 9 to 10-hour schoolwork on alternate days where freshmen and sophomores go to school on Mondays-Wednesdays and Fridays while juniors and seniors have classes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Either scheme shall reduce contact hours between teachers and their students in every subject by 60 minutes per week. However, teachers say, this deficiency may be remedied by take-home self-study modules.

Parents’ choice

More parents in the said meeting want the three-day school scheme. Among their reasons is economic, citing that they would only give their children baon money and prepare school uniforms for only three days. They said, students would have more time to do homework. Teachers, the parents say, will have a chance to know and teach their students better.

However, some parents expressed concern that the new schemes would affect the learning styles that students are used to. They said that the daily contact time with teachers helps students recall previous topics.

Still others are worried that their children would have long vacant periods after school. They cited cases where students in uniform are seen in amusement parlors and videoke joints, not to mention the nightspots, which abound in the city.

As this developed, some students are wary of the new time schemes. They say that it may not address the clamor for quality education. # Lyn V. Ramo for NORDIS

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