On Thursday, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) promised to start the construction of 20,000 classrooms this year to address the backlog of more than 144,000 people nationwide.
This comes after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoA) between the agencies to prepare for the implementation of the Basic Education Facilities Program (BEFP).
“The goal this year is 20,000 classes, so as long as we are close to our goal, we can say that it has been a historic year in terms of improving the situation,” said Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara in a press conference.
“It’s a 2-year period, so between disbursement and construction and completion, you’re talking about 2 years,” he added.
Under the agreement, DepEd will “provide a master list of school infrastructure by the end of May to identify priority schools, ensure site readiness, and obtain the necessary environmental approval.”
Meanwhile, the DPWH will “manage all bidding and construction activities, conduct joint site verification, and ensure that all buildings are fully operational and safe, including correcting any non-conformities reported by DepEd.”
According to Public Works Secretary Vivencio “Vince” B. Dizon, this year’s target of 5,000 classrooms will be included in the DPWH’s new procurement system through live streaming and public portal.
“We are doing everything we can to maintain transparency and ensure that the past bad actions in the DPWH will not happen again,” he told reporters in Filipino at the same time.
He went on to say that the 4,000 classrooms for 2025 will be completed by September this year. Previously, the DPWH reported the completion of only 22 classrooms in October last year.
“Right now we have 3,000 buildings in progress. 2,500 of them will be completed in June, while the rest will be completed in September,” he said.
The Second Congress Commission on Education (EDCOM II) warned in February that the backlog could continue to increase due to 122,518 dilapidated school buildings and the abandonment of more than 51,000 classrooms by 2028.
“It will take a sustained 10-year spending plan to address not only the classroom deficit but other systemic problems in education,” Mr.
“This is not a problem of the Marcos administration alone. This will be a problem for the next administration as well, so I hope that the next administration will take responsibility like this to deal with education problems,” he added. – Almira Louise S. Martinez
