MANILA, Philippines – How do you decongest a school which has more than 1,000 students but with only 9 classrooms?

In Valenzuela City, L-300 buses are available to transfer students from a crowded public elementary school to another where there’s room for them.

About 140 students – or 3 Grade 5 sections – from Malinta Elementary School-Pinalagad Annex will be transferred daily via school bus to Caruhatan West Elementary School starting Monday, June 2. (READ: Back to school for 20.9M public school students)

Three teachers will accompany the students, who will now be enrolled in the Caruhatan school. The school chose to transfer the Grade 5 students who “are old enough to travel,” as the schools are approximately 2 kilometers apart.

The Department of Education’s Valenzuela division is providing the vehicles, while the Valenzuela school board will shoulder the gas expenses.

Valenzuela schools division superintendent Wilfredo Cabral said they originally wanted to use private transport services, but due to budget restrictions, had to make use of available service vehicles instead – 6 school buses in total.

Cabral estimated that gasoline expenses, which the local school board will shoulder, could run up to P402,000 for the whole school year. This, he said, is cheaper than hiring private transport services.

The school bus transfer is a welcome move for both teachers and parents.

“Imagine, our rooms are very small, about 6 x 5 [meters] in size, but we have about 52 students [per classroom]. It’s really very cramped,” said Clar Bonifacio, a teacher of Pinalagad Annex.

“Kapag tinuruan sila, hindi sila ‘yung [naiinitan], aligaga. Okay para sa akin,” said Marites Pecayo, one of the parents. (When they’re being taught, they won’t feel the heat, or feel uneasy. That’s okay with me.)

No schools in Valenzuela City were listed as among the remaining 20 congested schools in Metro Manila. As early as January, however, Cabral started thinking of alternatives to decongest the Pinalagad Annex.

The size of the school was intended only for students from kindergarten to Grade 3, but it started accepting students for grades 4 to 6 when one student from the area reportedly drowned when he braved flood waters to go to a farther school. 

Cabral is confident they can sustain the initiative with the support of the local government.

“As they said, ‘the full arsenal of the city government shall be used to support basic education,’” he said.

In the next months, the school division will come up with a better waiting area for the Grade 5 students to protect them from extreme weather conditions, like heat and rain. – Rappler.com