MANILA, Philippines — Land Bank of the Philippines has approved a P272-million financing for the construction of new public school buildings in Nueva Ecija.
The state-run bank said it granted the loan financing to the local government of San Jose City in Nueva Ecija to help provide better education to residents.
The latest funding will finance 18 new public school buildings, 15 of which are allotted for elementary schools, two for secondary schools, and one for an integrated school.
The project will be implemented in 15 barangays in the city, including areas with high incidence of drop-outs.
Landbank said this is due to the lack of nearby educational facilities and the high education cost incurred by mostly farmer-parents.
Once completed and operational, the new school buildings will provide 115 additional classrooms to around 4,025 students at an ideal classroom to student ratio of 1:33.
This will help accommodate more students, from 33,357 to 37,382, who mostly come from families of farmers, regular fixed income earners, and micro and small entrepreneurs.
The project is also expected to benefit the local economy through the job generation of 72 additional teachers.
Landbank has been lending to San Jose City since 2002 for various projects including the acquisition of heavy equipment and construction of public market, farm to market roads, school buildings, overflow bridge, and other infrastructure facilities.