Housing czar Eduardo del Rosario on Wednesday batted for the establishment of temporary living quarters for public school teachers inside campuses.
He cited the need to build on-base temporary shelters for public school teachers, particularly in the far-flung areas, to address the issue of tutors spending so much time and money to go to their teaching posts.
He suggested such initiative to Senator Francis Tolentino, chairman of the Senate committee on housing and urban development, regarding Senate bills 660 and 934 calling for a housing program for public school teachers.
Del Rosario made his statement even as an opposition leader on Wednesday voiced concern over the low enrollment in the public schools, which forced the Department of Education to extend the enrollment period.
Assistant Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro denounced what she described as the “anti-poor” back-to-school policies of the department, saying that, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, such policies had created millions of out-of-school youth and leaving the poorest of the poor children behind.
“The latest number of enrollees yesterday is still millions below the enrollment last year. These are alarming numbers,” Castro said.
“Sending their children to school is becoming an additional burden for parents amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents, especially those who lost their jobs due to the community quarantines, are already stressed with trying to figure out where they will get food for their next meal.”Del Rosario said the on-base temporary shelter units for the teachers could also provide a sense of security for them.
“For living quarters for public school teachers, I think what we should do is to push for the construction of temporary housing facilities in the remote areas,” said Del Rosaria, the head of the Department of Housing Settlement and Urban Development.
“Just like the construction of their classrooms, the living facilities should be integrated in the budget of the Department of Education, so in that way it will be permanent, it will be from DepEd and it will not require resources by other agencies.
“This will resolve everything else: security and the transportation of the teachers because the living quarters will be constructed inside the campus of DepEd schools.”