President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Monday emphasized the urgent need to clean and improve public school bathrooms and ensure reliable water supply, calling it a basic requirement for students’ health and safety.

Speaking to the media after visiting schools in Malolos and San Miguel, Bulacan, as part of “Brigada Eskwela 2025”, Marcos said the condition of school facilities, particularly bathrooms, must be addressed ahead of the school reopening next week.

“One of the things that I noticed is the bathrooms. Kailangang-kailangan natin linisin at pagandahin ang mga bathroom (We really need to clean and improve the bathrooms),” Marcos told reporters.

“Hindi naman mahirap gawin ‘yon, except ang problema sa mga pinuntahan namin eskwela walang tubig. Kaya kailangan natin tignan nang mabuti. Bakit walang tubig eh nagbabayad naman sila para sa kanilang water supply (That’s not hard to do, except the problem in the schools we visited is that there’s no water. We have to look into it. Why is there no water when they are paying for the water supply?),” he added.

“For me basic ‘yan eh kasi pati ‘yung health ng mga bata natatamaan eh. Kaya nagkakasakit yan ‘pag malinis yung mga pinupuntahan nilang bathroom (That’s basic to me, because the children’s health is being affected. That’s why they get sick if the bathrooms they use are not clean),” Marcos continued.

Marcos said around 27 million students are expected to return to school next week.

He reported improvements in preparation efforts and announced the hiring of 20,000 new teachers to ease the administrative burden on educators.

He also noted that some schools still have aging “Marcos-type school buildings,” originally designed for 20 to 30 years of use.

The so-called Marcos-type school buildings were introduced in the late 1960s as a standard classroom design under the administration of the president’s late father, former President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Measuring 7.5 by 6 meters, these buildings were constructed with light steel frames, concrete hollow block walls, concrete flooring, and steel doors.

“Mabuti nalang at nagagamit pa pero we really need to have to look at the rehabilitation of many of them (It’s good they’re still being used, but we really need to look at rehabilitating many of them),” the President said.

Despite the challenges, the Chief Executive lauded the collaboration among agencies under the “Brigada Eskwela” initiative. (PNA)