1. To rush or to move quickly in a specific direction: The shoppers surged into the store the minute the doors were opened.
2. To rise or to increase in a rapid manner: The crowd of enthusiasts were surging towards the auditorium to get seats to hear the lecture on astronomy.

As the Philippines' population surges, the space for learning vanishes

With a country whose population of 92 million is exploding or surging so fast, and whose education budget is so small, that it cannot find space to teach its children, many classes have 100 pupils in them.

The surge is a result of more children coming into the public schools as the economy tightens and families cannot afford the advantages of private schools, with their smaller classes.

The shortage of toilets has also become a problem; particularly when some lavatories have been converted into "claustrophobic faculty lounges, while the teacher's lounges have been put to use as classrooms".