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Summary Classrooms made of used plastic bottles are rising in Philippines to accommodate more students.
At Payatas Elementary School in Laguna Province, more than 70 students are crammed in the classroom, while others have to sit in makeshift classrooms.Some of them are not listening because of so many pupils. Theyre very noisy, so the teachers are facing problems for the performance of the pupils, said Romeo Tatad, the schools vice principal.Its a problem that persists in hundreds of other public schools in the Philippines. The education department says there is a need to build 68,000 more classrooms. A need that an underfunded education system has failed to cope with, but the private sector is helping to fill bottle classrooms.When construction at the school is complete, eight classrooms, mostly made out of glass and plastic bottles, will rise. They are twice the size of regular classrooms and cost only a third to build.Used plastic bottles are filled with a mixture of soil, water, and cement, which are then packed together to form the walls and foundation of each building. There are holes on either side for ventilation and large solar bulbs made out of steel drums for lighting.Youre talking about empty land and building only in one way, which is cement, steel and glass. But maybe were too poor to keep on just using one solution. So if education is important then we should look at all available solutions.That is why this plastic bottle is a good start. Its a pioneering way to look at how a simple plastic bottle can be used as a brick, said Illac Diaz, the head of My Shelter Foundation.The bottle classrooms also go beyond just solving the problem of the lack of classrooms and the excess in garbage. They are actually built to withstand the force of typhoons that have become increasingly stronger as an effect of climate change.The classrooms are becoming, you know, cheaper and cheaper and less durable, climate change has become stronger and stronger. So if these are the places where people run to as a place of last resort, you know, we have to look for new ways where cheaper doesnt mean that its less safe. You can actually run over these plastic bottles with a truck, and it wont break, Diaz said.The bottle classrooms are the first of their kind to be completed, but according to Diaz, every town in the Philippines produces enough waste to be able to build one every two weeks. All it takes is some political will and community effort to make it a reality.
