The Problem of Classrom Overcrowding

Overcrowded classrooms are epidemics that are affecting many students and teachers. If there are over 35 students in your class, then you might be affected by overcrowded classrooms. Some symptoms include: frustration, stress, annoyance and pressure.

There is widespread agreement that schooling quality should be a priority in the post-2015 education agenda, but less agreement on how quality can be enhanced in a cost effective manner. In Uganda, classroom overcrowding is often considered a critical cause of poor learning outcomes. This paper investigates how various aspects of classroom composition, including class size and the achievement distribution of classmates, affect individual learning. Using test score data for over 250,000 children, such compositional factors are found to be relevant. However, their influence on learning is not so large as to justify major standalone policy interventions. Rather, pedagogical changes that support children with literacy difficulties merit particular consideration (International Journal of Educational Development, 2016).

Studies show that overcrowded classroom conditions not only make it difficult for students to concentrate on their lessons, but inevitably limit the amount of time teachers can spend on innovative teaching methods such as cooperative learning and group work or on teaching anything beyond the bare minimum required by the curriculum. On top of this, teachers in congested classrooms are generally over-stretched, more likely to suffer from burnout, or have a more strained relationship with their pupils.

Despite the shortage of space for many students at public schools in the Philippines, the DepEd had never attempted to purchase land for new school sites for several reasons. Up until our intervention in 2014, there was a long-held belief by some in the DepEd that school properties should not be purchased, but rather donated by either the local government or private individuals and organizations. Instead, the DepEd focused on constructing additional classrooms at existing school sites. To counteract the widening student-classroom ratio, the DepEd developed and implemented a wide range of strategies that were often seen as controversial, including: splitting classrooms in two using wall dividers; dividing the classes—even at the elementary level—into morning, afternoon, and evening sessions; and encouraging students to take distance-learning classes (School Congestion in the Philippines: A Breakthrough Solution, Nicholas Jones, 2017).

Based on my observation of overcrowded rooms in Agusan National High School, many students inside the room get easily being depressed and feel stress because of the abundance of loud noises that they heard during class and it will give disturbances in their mind to listen and learn the lessons of what does the teacher gave to them, and there are some student will also feel annoy because some others student will having an attitude of manner less behavior, the students got easily sick because they are close to each other and it could possibly the germs came from one of the students and has been easily spread from one another, one of the reason also is the increase of students in the room, there were events that the students will invest their time to find other chairs so that they can sit comfortable and the cost is, they wasted their time to learn by finding stuff that are not kind of helpful on their learnings. And lastly, I noticed that every room in this school had commonly many object that is sometime useful and disuse to the teacher and students then it was displayed on a different spot inside the room like the locker, chairs, garbage can, and etc. which are the things that could occupied space to the room.

Classroom congestion is still remains affecting from the students performances, especially also from the teachers, this issue has been declared to review in exploring the effects of students performances to the said issue of classroom congestion.