TO accommodate more than 16,000 students for the incoming face-to-face classes on November 2, the Davao City National High School (DCNHS) opted to have double-shift class sessions due to a lack of classrooms and teachers.
“One in the morning and one in the afternoon just to cater to students considering na kulang kaayo tag classrooms (we lack classrooms). We only have 152 classrooms available,” Evelyn Magno, DCNHS Principal, said in an interview with SunStar Davao on August 1. She added that there are still some classrooms that are being or will be constructed.
Morning classes will be from 6:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. while the afternoon classes will be from 12:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Each classroom will only be able to accommodate 25 to 30 students since social distancing will be observed. Pre-pandemic, each room can cater 50 to 60 students.
Meanwhile, Magno said they are also short on teachers.
“Mao ni siya ang problema [pud] kay based on enrollment sa 2020 and 2021 ang kulang nato sa student-teacher ratio kay 151 sa Junior High ug 50 teachers sa Senior High School (SHS). We are hoping and praying that this will be addressed talaga kasi kulang ang ating mga teachers (This is also one of the problems we are facing, because based on our enrollment from 2020-2021 we need 151 teachers in Junior High and 50 teachers in SHS for the ideal student-teacher ratio),” Magno said.
Magno said DepEd-Davao promised to provide 17 additional teachers for SHS. As of August 1, there are already around 5,000 students enrolled in SHS.
Magno also said while they can still cater to Grade 7 transferees, they will no longer accommodate other students who will transfer to the school.
“Wala nay kabutangan ang atong mga estudyante who are living in our vicinity...Dili pud maayo nga atoa nalang pud tanan i-cater kung kinsa gusto [mang-eskwela], we cannot provide them quality education anymore (We don’t have space for our students who are living in our vicinity... We cannot just keep on accepting students who want to study here because we will not be able to provide them quality education anymore),”Magno said.
Magno said they advised that transferees from schools like Sta. Ana National High School, Bernardo D. Carpio National High School, and others to stay at their school instead of enrolling in DCNHS.
“Amo lang gyud silang gi-advisan nga balik lang gyud mo didto sa inyuhang dating skwelahan kay we also need to cater our old students (We advise them to go back to the school where they used to study because we also need to cater to our old students),” Magno said.
Meanwhile, Magno said that they already prepared the Covid-19 facilities to ensure the safety of the students against Covid-19.
“Naa tay mga hand-washing facilities, naandam na nato kini before ta nag-conduct og face-to-face classes sa previous na school year. Adunay pud tay isolation room, dispenser para sa mga alcohol. Aduna tay good for two classrooms na clinic ug upat ka school nurses (We have hand-washing facilities, we prepared it since the previous school year. We also have an isolation room, alcohol dispenser, and clinic that is good for two classrooms attended by four school nurses),” Magno said.
On the other hand, Magno reminded parents and students to participate in their upcoming Brigada Eskwela as well as to enroll as soon as possible to finalize their list of students for the Academic Year 2022-2023. KSD