DepEd reports 40K classroom shortage nationwide even as classes start

The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday said there is still a shortage of around 40,000 classrooms all over the country.

DepEd spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa said the lack of 40,000 classrooms was already a decrease from the previous 91,000 classrooms as reported by Education Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III last Friday.

“With the strategies implemented by most of our schools, we have lowered the shortage to around 40,000,” Poa said in an ANC interview.

Among the challenges faced by a number of schools during the resumption of face-to-face classes on Monday, August 22, was classroom shortage.

To work around this problem, some of the schools have to implement shifting schedules — one in the morning, and one in the afternoon — in order to cater to their students, all while trying to maintain physical distancing.

Others have to divide a classroom into two, while others opted for a blended learning to address the overcrowding of students in each classroom.

Poa said that part of the DepEd's short-term solutions is really coordinating with their regional directors to identify which schools should implement blended learning and shifting of schedules first.

DepEd’s long-term plan, on the other hand, is proposing an P86.5 billion budget for 2023 for the reconstruction and repairs of these classrooms.

“We are hoping to use that money para mabawasan na natin ‘yung classroom shortage and we could start constructing new classrooms next year,” Poa said.

“The amount that we’re proposing is something that we think is doable. We’re not trying to propose something that we couldn’t do in a year… It’s now on appeal for around P85.9 billion because we’re still negotiating with the DBM,” he added.

Poa, however, said no when pressed if the 40,000 classroom shortage could be built within the year to 2023 given the proposed P86.5 billion budget.

He noted that with this budget, only around 34,000 classrooms could be constructed by next year.

“Honestly, we have to admit, no. That’s the answer. I think the P86.5 billion, if my memory serves me right, is allocated to build around 34,000 classrooms,” he said.

Poa affirmed to GMA News Online that the remaining 6,000 classrooms may be built starting 2024 if the budget by then is permitted.

During the Senate Committee on Basic Education organizational hearing on Friday, Densing said that learners might suffer from growing classroom shortage in the coming years if the government will not allocate sufficient funds to fix the facilities, especially those that were hit by calamities.

He reported that the budgetary requirement for repair of classrooms that were hit by calamities since 2015 is around P40 billion.

Of which, P16 billion are "most immediate,” covering the rehabilitation of classrooms that were damaged by the last earthquake that hit Abra and Typhoons Odette and Agaton.

For her part, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte on Monday said classroom shortage should not be an excuse to keep the students from going back to in-person classes this year. — RSJ, GMA News