BY ASHZEL HACHERO

EDUCATION Secretary Jesli Lapus yesterday said students in public elementary and high schools would have to wait till next year for toilets because his department prioritized the construction of classrooms this year, sans the toilets.

Lapus said the DepEd will include toilets and sewerage when it presents to Congress this year its budget proposal for 2009.

In the absence of any funding from the P149-billion DepEd budget, he appealed to lawmakers and the public sector for help, saying the solons can put their "pork barrel" to good use by building toilets in public schools in their communities.

He said the private sector can be tapped through the yearly "Brigada Eskwela" or the National Schools Maintenance Week.

He said businessmen can help fund the construction of toilets through the "Adopt-A-School project. He said a regular-size toilet can cost P400,000 each.

Lapus said DepEd focused on the construction of classrooms to cope with the influx of students to the public sector but the design of the rooms did not include toilets.

DepEd has said 18.81 million or 87 percent of the 21.66 million elementary and high school students are enrolled in public schools.

This school year, it built 10,472 additional classrooms in addition to the existing 421,034 to ensure a classroom to student ratio of 1:45 from the previous 1:50.

Lapus said additional classrooms were also built in the Bicol region, which was damaged by super typhoons Milenyo and Reming. He said classrooms that double as evacuation centers have kitchen and toilet facilities.

Lapus said government is gradually addressing the toilet shortage in the construction of new buildings.

The militant Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) has scored the low toilet to pupil ratio (TPR) in the Philippines, which stands at 1:51 in the elementary and 1:102 in high schools. It said the international standard is 1:25 for girls and 1:30 for boys.

ACT said the most unsanitary school comfort rooms in the country are found in the National Capital Region and in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The TPR in Metro Manila is 1:143 and 1:114 in high school and elementary, respectively. In the ARMM, it is 1:171 in elementary and 1:250 in high schools.

The worst case was Silangan Elementary School Annex in Taguig, which had only one toilet for 2,031 students in 2007.

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) said the Baesa High School in Caloocan City has one toilet facility with three cubicles being used by more than 3,000 students.

TDC chairman Benjo Basas said the TDC has recorded several cases of urinary diseases among teachers and students who have poor comfort room facilities.