Classroom gap currently at 166,000 —Bam Aquino

The classroom gap is currently at 166,000, Senator Bam Aquino, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said Wednesday.

"According to EDCOM 2 (Second Congressional Commission on Education), 'yung classroom gap po natin is 166,000 classrooms and if we don't build more classrooms, this will balloon to 230,000 by 2028. So kinakailangan po talagang matutukan natin ang problemang ito," Aquino said during the San Juan Mayor’s Dialogue on Accelerating Classroom-Building in Cities and Municipalities under the Classroom-Building Acceleration Program (CAP) Act.

(According to EDCOM 2, our classroom gap is 166,000 classrooms. And if we don't build more classrooms, this will balloon to 230,000 by 2028. So we need to address this problem.)

Aquino revealed that some of the widest gaps are in Regions 3 and 4a, National Capital Region, and Region 7. 

In 2025, only 99 classrooms were built, he said.

To address the gap, P66 billion will be allotted to build approximately 25,000 to 30,000 classrooms this year.

"At the minimum 25,000 classrooms started in 2026," the senator said.

A portion of the P66 billion will still go to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) but the local government units can now help in addressing the backlog.

Aquino said more than 200 mayors were attending the event on Wednesday in San Juan City.

"Ibig sabihin... talagang desidido sila na mapunuan natin ang kakulangan ng classroom sa ating bansa," Aquino said.

(That means they are decided to address the classroom shortage in our country.)

Education Secretary Sonny Angrara said this is open to all local government units. 

"We want to start all of it this year but it also depends on the availability of cash. Kung mare-release ng DBM (Department of Budget and Management) sa amin, mababa namin mas mabilis sa mga local government," Angara said.

(If the DBM releases [the funds] to us, we can bring it to local governments faster.)

The Department of Education (DepEd) has been granted a P1.015-trillion budget for 2026, the largest allocation in its history.

Of this amount, P85.40 billion is allocated to basic education facilities:

• P65.9 billion for the construction of 24,964 new classrooms
• P7.7 billion for repair and rehabilitation of 11,886 classrooms
• P4.2 billion for completion of infrastructure projects, leasing initiatives, and site validation
• P3.6 billion for additional 25,451 sets of desks, furniture, and fixtures
• P1.1 billion for the improvement of 258 Gabaldon school buildings
• P2 billion for three medium-rise school buildings
• P56 million for four community learning centers
• P209 million for 16 inclusive learning resource centers
• P1 billion for 72 library hubs
• P500 million for 333 priority school health facilities
• P330 million for Public-Private Partnership school infrastructure projects

—KG, GMA Integrated News