RESOLVING classroom shortage in public schools in the country may take over 20 years, the latest report from the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) released on Monday said.
The report said it may take the Department of Education that long to address the perennial problem given the current average annual budget of P24 billion for classroom construction.
The latest data from the DepEd showed the public school system lacks 165,443 classrooms. The lack of classrooms prompted schools to hold two or more shifts per day of classes.
Data from EDCOM showed that Calabarzon has the largest number of schools doing double shifting of classes in school year 2023-2024 with 648 while 64 were doing triple shifts, for a total of 712 schools.
A school in Naic, Cavite — Ciudad Nuevo de Naic National High School — is a testament to the problem, holding six shifts of classes daily.
In the National Capital Region, 566 schools were doing double shifts, and 10 triple shifts, for a total of 576 schools.
But the EDCOM report said the effort of DepEd to address this through the construction of new classrooms has failed to remedy the problem so far.
CONSTRUCTION SLOW
Classroom construction is “slow, inefficient and unsustainable,” it added.
“The completion rate of classroom construction has been declining over the past five years. In 2022, no new classrooms were constructed from new appropriation. Only 847 classrooms of the required number were slated to be completed by December 2024,” the report noted.
It said that the Basic Educational Facilities Fund or BEFF, which is used by DepEd for classroom construction is also underutilized due to bottlenecks in the project cycle, including planning and procurement design, failed bidding and cost mismatches, among others.
DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara earlier said the department plans to resolve the current 165,000-classroom backlog through Public-Private Partnership, with an initial target of constructing 15, 000 classrooms by 2027.
The initiative under the PPP School Infrastructure Project, according to Angara, will cost between P37.5 billion to P60 billion and benefit over 600,000 students nationwide. It is also expected to generate at least 18, 000 jobs.
The problem is immense, Angara acknowledged, adding that in 2024, the DepEd was only able to construct over 2, 000 classrooms nationwide.
“Kaya, we are pursuing the PPP route with the support of the President, wherein we will frontload the construction of new classrooms. Because last year, we were only able to do over 2, 000 new classrooms,” he explained.
He said if the current pace of 2, 000 to 5, 000 new classrooms every year is maintained, the DepEd would not be able to address the classroom shortage, especially with the annual increase in enrollment.
The DepEd chief said they also have a roadmap for scaling up classroom constructions to 30, 000 and 60, 000 from the planned 15, 000 initial target in subsequent phases.
Last year, Angara promised dramatic actions to address the classroom shortage in the country.
During the Senate hearing on the DepEd budget for 2024, the department said it would need at least P397 billion to address the current classroom backlogs. Each classroom cost around P2 million.
