TACLOBAN CITY - Classes are set to start but aside from the perennial problem of books and rooms, the main problem the region was still experiencing is the lack of teachers especially in schools in rural areas.

The Department of Education admitted that there are only 300-400 teachers available in the region. "So this number is very small, we still lack about 1,000 elementary teachers and 1,000 high school teachers" DepEd Director Sol Matugas said.

The ratio of 1:60 as well as 1:100 still happen in the rural areas. Several schools in the region have the same ratio of the number of teacher to students even in the urban areas.

Because of this, local government units are expected to augment the number of teachers in their respective cities or municipalities. Some LGU's have reportedly allocated budgets for the salary of teachers will be working under them just to have enough number of teachers to schools in their area. "That's why we continue appealing to them, please help us to give better education to the students, teachers are important," Matugas said.

Matugas assured however that they are now ready and all set for the opening of classes.

"As early as January we were able to identify area where a crisis may happen and we have readied plans for them, so we hope everything will run smoothly for the next school year." Matugas disclosed.