1.1 INTRODUCTION
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
-Nelson Mandela
(11th President of the African National Congress)
Education is a gateway to countless opportunities to grow as an individual and to become an asset to the nation’s success. Education is learning of knowledge, skills, values beliefs, faith and habits and molds the student with the core values of the country. It is the most effective way to combat poverty and improve the economy. An integral component of learning is a school and through a public school, children who belongs to poverty lines are given an access to free education. Also, by providing sufficient educational facilities, children’s skills and knowledge development can be supported and be able to nurture great minds, such as future doctors, artists, inventors, builders and leaders of this Nation.
1.2 BACKROUND OF THE PROJECT
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) elementary School Main is located at 8 Patola St, Las Piñas City, 1740 Metro Manila. It is reported to be the most populated elementary school in Metro Manila from 2009-2010 having 10,257 enrollees and from 2014 up to 2017, which has 10,729 in 2014-2015, wherein 5504 are male and 5184 are female and according to CAA Elementary School data, for S.Y. 2017-2018 the total number of students is 10916. It riches up to 55 students per room. It results to overcrowding, shortage of learning facilities and decreasing the opportunity of the student to access a quality education.
CAA Elementary School has a gold label in color code of pupil- instructional room ratio which means that it does not meet the Roxas Law (RA No. 7880), a mandates of fair and equitable allocation of the Department’s budget for capital outlay and provides for a classroom-pupil ratio of 1:45. While on the latest report of Manila Bulletin, DepEd Undersecretary for Planning and Field Operations Jesus Mateo stated that this “one size fits all” concept may not be applicable to all levels. In result, DepEd reduced the ratio and clarified on the 2017-2018 batch that student-teacher ratio must now have 1:35 fixed ratio only and 50 students is the maximum with response to House Bill 473. Also, DepEd use the 1:25 student-teacher as the minimum and 1:30 as the maximum and if it exceeds there must be an additional teacher. In terms of ratio per grade level, grade 1-2 are set to have 1:30 minimum and 1:35 is the maximum, for grade 3 to 4 1:35 is the maximum and for grade 5 to 10 is 1:40. For kindergarten 1:30 maximum and for SPED is 1:15. Lastly, the undersecretary said that reducing the class-size ratio is one way solution for the improvement of learning environment.
Another factor that affects the learning process is the health issues of students, according to FNRI-DOST report the ratio with School Children of less than 5 years old have shown that 1 out of 10 are underweight, 1 out 4 are stuned, 6 out 100 are wasted or thin and 6 out of 100 are overweight. With ages 5-10 the report says 1 out 5 are underweight, 1 out of 5 are stunted, 7 out of 100 are wasted and considered to be poor and a public health problem and 1 out 10 are overweight. Also Jun Arajo, Health and Nutrition Center, Department of Education said that Undernutrition is behind the high dropout rates in elementary and high schools. CAA is one the of schools that is included to the feeding program of the government but it only happens every quarters but if the school has its own source, distribution of healthy meals will increase. These situations have an impact on their ability to achieve academically. Having a poor health makes the student not interested in joining activities, and results in difficulty of understanding the lesson.
Primary level is essential to ensure development of children’s cognitive, cultural, physical, mental, emotional skills to grow up as well-mannered and productive individuals of the nation. Also, students need good health to learn at their highest potential. So as a response to issues, the solution is to relocate the students to a new school which has sufficient rooms and learning facilities for academic purposes and second, by providing spaces to develop their skills, talents, attitudes, and other potentials they have and lastly it will incorporate urban farming, wherein, the allocated agricultural area or school garden will be increase to contribute to the food supply of the school and feeding program for the students, to lessen malnutrition rate among the students, improve their performance in school and to teach student the importance of growing their own foods.
1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Kindergarten to third year grade are when the children acquire new skills and knowledge rapidly. According to researchers, children who attend a more academically effective primary show better attainment and progress in key stage 2 (ages 7 to 11) than children with similar characteristics who attend a less effective school. So, the new school, shall serve as the solution to improve the education of CAA Elementary School students, by having sufficient facilities that shall provide learning activities and spaces that will contribute to have a healthy body and mind.
It shall provide effective learning facilities through applying minimum requirements such as following student-classroom/activity room/activity areas/garden ratio, having physical environment that is safe, secured, comfortable, has well ventilations, and aesthetic pleasing. Also, it must have well designed building system for plumbing, electrical, water, telecommunications, fire, mechanical. Circulation and planning must be one of major consideration.
In terms of health issues, contributing to food supply for the feeding program and daily meals of students will greatly improve students’ performance and productivity.
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The relocation of the school will improve the quality of education for it will accommodate each student needs. It will provide the minimum pupil-room ratio and ratio of pupil to other facilities to give a comfortable and productive spaces to study. It will help students to get more involve with the different activities because of allotted playground, courts and activity rooms, laboratory, science room, home economic, music and arts room. Through increasing spaces allotted for agricultural space such as bigger garden areas at school ground and vertical farming, students will be more aware of culturing edible plants as it is a basic necessity of human to live and a vital component to combat malnutrition. It will help the students to have healthy body so that they can now fully use their potential in studying and in developing themselves.
1.5 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
1.5.1 GENERAL
Solving facilities shortage with compliance of the DepED EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES MANUAL by providing sufficient rooms and other areas to attend the educational needs of the students.
1.5.2 SPECIFIC
To Improve education with new technologies and design by allocating spaces to accommodate these new methods of designing schools.
To improve students’ health that will lessen dropout rates and introduce the importance of growing their on food with planning through rooftop, vertical and school ground urban farming.
1.6 SCOPE AND LIMITATION
SCOPE:
1. The scope of the study is to assess the relevance of traditional layout of public elementary school with adaptation of modern design of school to come up with effective study place to increase productivity of the users.
2. The researcher will highlight the importance of developing the skills and knowledge of a child at his or her early years of schooling and how will it affect their later school and life outcomes.
3. It will also point out the concept of urban farming on how it will be incorporate to school design and the process of maintaining it by the school personnel and how to involve students to the process.
4. The researcher will would enumerate the risk of increasing the spaces for agricultural area.
LIMITATION OF THE RESEARCH:
1. The researcher will only base on the data given by the CAA Elementary School, a basis for the number of classrooms and others rooms to serve the students; Municipal Hall of Las Piñas City on providing the lot for buiding school; DepED Manuals for the guidelines of planning, and Department of agriculture on how to effectively grow edible plants within the school premises.
2. Also, the researcher will use survey as part of the data gathering that shall serve as basis for the planning and designing of the facilities.
DEFINITION OF TERMS:
Public school –
RELOCATION – The act or process of moving from one place to another
URBAN FARMING-Is way of farming and gardening in urban areas using small or bigger lot, horizontal or vertical layouts and rooftop.
SPED – “SPECIAL EDUCATION” it is a program that attend the needs of students who are physically, emotionally, mentally and socially delayed since their the delivery of instructions and teaching methodology for those students cannot be accommodate in a traditional class.