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Chapter 1

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Is the Ateneo de Davao Bangkal Campus really ready to accommodate its

students? Are the facilities properly designed in prioritizing its students’

convenience? Could it be renovated for improvement? A cafeteria refers to a food

service location wherein customers serve themselves or are served at a counter

and take the food to tables to eat. This implements social interaction and modeling

roles for eating habits. Cafeterias can usually be found in schools where the

students can’t be individually served; thus, it is self-service. Self-service eating

encourages independence and autonomy among people, but it also has its

downsides. According to Malla (2010), a school cafeteria must develop proper

management from structural issues to space management. There are existing

factors on the management in the Ateneo de Davao SHS Cafeteria that affects the

experiences of the students. One of the factors is the poor occupancy of the space

in the cafeteria which results in low management of the crowd of students during

break-time. Furthermore, according to Pennstate (2015), overcrowded school

facilities have consistently been linked to increased levels of aggression in

students.

In Colorado, USA, according to Ready et al. (2004), the size of the school

and its mechanism should be evaluated for which it might affect or influence the

students’ and teachers’ performance. The study of Lee and Smith (1997) induced

that a bigger school size was favored by social equity.

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In the Philippines, Geographic information systems were utilized to

investigate the allocation of public-school resources and the extent of disparity in

education facilities among 75 Philippine provinces. The building conditions are of

high quality in the northern provinces. The greater region of the capital is

overcrowded but well maintained. The eastern seaboard region and the southern

provinces have poor conditions due to frequent natural calamities and the

prolonged civil unrest, respectively. Since the spatial analysis result shows that the

school building requirements are largely unmet, some recommendations are

proposed so that they can be implemented by the government in order to improve

the school facilities and mitigate the existing disparities among the four clusters of

the Philippines.

The number of students complaining about the AdDU Bangkal Cafeteria

continues to grow exponentially, especially because of the hectic schedule.

Although it is relatively large, the school’s cafeteria still becomes heavily congested

during the simultaneous lunch periods of both the grade 11 and 12. The

simultaneous lunch periods of both grade levels is certainly a factor to the

congestion, but there also seems to be a problem in the cafeteria itself, more

specifically, its architectural design and layout. For example, the stationery

commodities are stationed just along the halls with the printing station and its

waiting line blocking the hall. This ongoing problem in the school’s cafeteria

demands a solution of which will boost the students’ mental and social health.

This study aims to renovate the school cafeteria and expand it to

accommodate more students and to improve convenience, eliminating the crowd

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congestion experienced by the students every lunch period. Students are the

country’s future, their academic capabilities are honed at school but their emotional

and social health must still be kept in check as well. The cafeteria has a huge

impact on their emotional and social health; therefore, the ongoing problem in its

facilities must be addressed. The researchers have some factors it does not take

into consideration, one of which is the other cafeteria near the school entrance and

also the consequences in the ventilation and accessibility of the cafeteria during

renovation. In this study, future students, teachers, and workers of AdDU Bangkal

will be able to utilize the school cafeteria more conveniently.

Statement of the Problem

Overcrowding and the ineffective space occupancies of the main cafeteria

of Ateneo de Davao Senior High School becomes a problem to the Ateneans,

especially the increase of population this school year. The planned renovation

aims to rearrange the cafeteria occupancy from food stations, food stalls, facilities

area and seating arrangements, which is located on building E, 1st floor of Ateneo

de Davao Senior High School. Maximizing the space effectiveness it is proposed

to transfer the food stalls lining up at the left side of the cafeteria to settle the

capacity of the lining of students that may block the pathway, also to provide

additional seats at the center to cater the amount of students during that duration

of time.

There are approximately over 3500 population in Ateneo de Davao University

Senior High School. In a one-hour time frame, Ateneans experience a tight

condition in the school cafeteria space occupancy. As observed, ateneans

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experience incapacity of seats within the facilities and the blockage of people in

the pathway due to the lineup of the food sections. In order to address this problem,

the researchers are proposing a renovation project to the main cafeteria to resolve

this main problem faced by both learners and staff.

In line with this, the study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What is the problem encountered by the ateneans regarding the concern

about the ateneo senior high school main cafeteria.

2. How does the current structure of the main cafeteria affects the situation of

ateneans?

3. What are the primary solution an ateneans may suggest to resolve the

problem about the main cafeteria.

Theoretical Framework
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The design of the main cafeteria was inspired by Sun-hee Jang and Hye-

Cha Jang (2011). The design and arrangement of each part was concisely and

precisely given into account where one section of group like food are separately

arranged in an orderly manner where spaces of each vacancies where put into

action and thought. And the chairs and tables are also aligned consequently.

It is observed that with this layout, all forms of slow traffic in line formation,

heat, noise, stall arrangement and lastly chairs and tables arrangements are will

be equally divided and observe through the flow of the students behavioral act.

And with this study, the enhancement or renovation of the cafeteria will be met

accordingly and also will adapt their design in a way that every constituent or

variables will be available in the context of Ateneo de Davao SHS.

Goals and Objectives of the Study

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The primary purpose of this study is to determine the major effects of the

existing problem regarding the overcrowding of the Ateneo Senior High School

Cafeteria. Specifically, this will address the following objectives:

a. To be able to improve the architectural design and structure of the Ateneo de

Davao SHS Cafeteria

b. To decrease the crowd congestion in Ateneo de Davao SHS Cafeteria

c. To increase the convenience for the number of students in the school cafeteria

with enough tables and chairs

Scope and Limitation of the Study

The study intends to determine the feasibility of the renovation of the main

school cafeteria of the Ateneo de Davao University Senior High School. The

allocated site of the study will be conducted inside the school, specifically near the

gymnasium. The study will be covered by the students, faculty and staffs to

determine if there really is a need for the project to be implemented.

However, there are some limitations set for this study. The proponents of

the study will be limited to the students, teachers, administrators, and school staff

of the Ateneo de Davao University Senior High School as they mostly take credit

from this study. The objective of this study is to create a scale model and technical

layout of the proposed project and also to determine the feasibility of the study.

Significance of the Study

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This study would primarily benefit the population of the school, thus, this will

evaluate the difficulties encountered by the Ateneans and provide information to

determine the problem faced by the Ateneo Senior High School main cafeteria.

This study will be beneficial to the following:

Students. This study will provide an understanding and knowledge of the

existing problem of the facility as direct recipients. The improvement of the main

cafeteria will result to the convenience that will affect different angles to their

learning experience in school. It can also benefit the future learners of the

institution as they will experience the improved facility and the non-existent

problem.

Administration, Faculty, and Staff. This study will serve as a guiding

principle for the institution to be aware of the situation experienced by one of their

school facilities. It can also cultivate them a sense of responsibility in making

decisions to think rationally and practically as it affects the learning environment of

the students.

Future Researchers. The data gathered in this project may serve as

background, overview, and reference for future researchers to validate the issue

and cover some variables that could be related to their study.

Definition of Terms

This study uses technical terms that is specific to the renovation project.

The following terms are important in this study and are defined operationally:
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Cafeteria. A restaurant where people collect food and drink from a serving

area and take it to a table themselves after paying for it.

Overcrowding. This refers to the condition where more people are located

within a given space than is considered tolerable from a safety and health

perspective which will depend on current environment and local cultural norms.

Renovation. It's a process of improving a broken, damaged, or outdated

structure. This implies to the study as its objective in repairing and improving

something, especially a building.

Food Stalls. A large table or a small shop with an open front from which

goods are sold in a crowded place.

Space. A continuous area or spacious area that is free, available, or

unoccupied.