Inadequacy: The public School Dilemma

A group of students walk briskly as they try to keep up with their instructor. Dodging other students milling along the almost clogging hallway, they try to find their way to an empty classroom where they race with each other to get a better seat. And just as they were finally settled in their seats, the bell rang signaling the end of the period.

This scene is just an example of what every public colleges and universities faces in the Philippines. For a university with a sky-high population, scarcity of classrooms and chairs is a common occurrence and holding classes in student lounges are considered normal. With more than 8,000 thousand students, Negros Oriental State University (NORSU) is probably the most populated university in the entire province. With its explosive population, the university’s amenities are inadequate to serve the students.

Being the only state university in Negros Island, NORSU is a home to students hailing from nearby provinces. Due to its low tuition fee, even students from private schools, in and out of the province, chooses to transfer in the university. This major factor is the reason why the population of the university is consistently increasing over the years.

As the student population increases, the number of instructors and amenities should also increase. However, this is not so in the case of state colleges and universities. Through the years, together with the increase of student population is the continuing deterioration of the few facilities that the university has acquired.

While the student population continues to increase, the facilities remain the same. Lack of laboratory equipment, non-functioning computers, inadequate classrooms and chairs are just some of the complaints of the students that had been answered all this years.

Meantime, while NORSU is proud that it is the first university outside Metro Manila to offer a geology course, students from the Geology department of the university has been crying not only for additional equipment but for instructors as well. Instructors of the department are all part-timers and working at PNOC in Valencia which gives them a very hard time meeting their students. Geology students complain that there are times when they would only meet with their instructors once a month or sometimes none at all. To this, the university president explained that the school can only hire part-time instructors because as a rule, state colleges and universities are not allowed to create new positions because of a moratorium and the administrators of these schools will have to hire part-time instructors. This is because of this reason that despite the consistent increase in student population, the population of instructors remains the same According to the students, for a course like geology; they need equipment that could help them understand their course. However, on a complaint letter to the student publication, the students complained that their only equipment is an old magnifying glass and equipment borrowed from other departments.

On the other hand, Computer Science and Information Technology students have their computer laboratory with adequate number of computers but the problem is, only a few of these computers are working and could accommodate the students. At the same time, the Journalism and Mass Communication department only have one regular instructor with no equipment that could help them train well as future journalist or broadcasters. Same with the others, the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences also suffers the same fate.

The biggest college of the university, the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) suffers the most in the scarcity of classrooms and chairs dilemma of the university. As a service college, all students of the university are taking subjects from the college which means that more than no less than four or five thousand students are taking subjects from the college. This is of course aside from the fact that the college is also home to 2,000 students from more than ten departments.

CAS Dean Violeta Taring acknowledged the problem and said that there are really not enough classrooms and chairs to accommodate all students. However, she said that the administration is doing its best to solve the problem.

In an interview with the university president, he explained that the school has no budget for additional laboratory equipment because, according to him, in the first place the students are only paying Php 50.00 for laboratory fee and this is not enough to provide additional laboratory equipment.Added to the difficulty in budget is the never-ending bureaucracy. Dr. Henry A. Sojor shared that, as of 2007, the Board of Regents has already approved for the immediate acquisition of several equipment for the College of Maritime Education and the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences as well as the completion of the Sky Library situated on the rooftop of the College of Arts and Sciences buildings. The actual realization of these projects, however, will not be seen in the near future because it has to follow a very long procedure that may take years. Added to this, Dr. Sojor shared that, the school has not been receiving its budget from the national government for three years now.

While the administration is still doing what it can to solve the problem, the students will just have to make do of whatever amenities they have now; after all, resourcefulness can also be a virtue.