MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) is planning to build over 100,000 classrooms with private sector help in a bid to thin out the classroom backlog of 165,000.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara said he presented the plan to President Marcos after the agency signed a P58.8-million technical assistance partnership with the Public-Private Partnership Center to build 15,000 classrooms under the PPP School Infrastructure Project (PSIP 3).
Angara said the partnership seeks to finish the initial classroom construction by 2027.
The DepEd has also laid out a roadmap for scaling up construction to 30,000 and 60,000 classrooms through the PSIP 4 and 5, respectively.
“The classroom gap is a massive challenge, but we believe that leveraging private investments through PPPs is the most efficient and sustainable way to address this,” Angara said.
The PSIP 3 is expected to benefit over 600,000 students nationwide and generate at least 18,000 jobs, according to the education chief.
In addition to addressing infrastructure needs, the DepEd is spearheading efforts to equip public schools with power and digital tools also through PPPs to improve learning outcomes.
Angara disclosed that the agency plans to roll out by 2026 the electricity supply to un-energized schools, Low Earth Orbit or LEO satellite internet connectivity for unconnected schools and tablets for learners and laptops for teachers.
“Connectivity on this scale is expected to dramatically boost the effectiveness of teachers, while offering Filipino children a wealth of learning resources previously out of their reach,” he said.
“With a combination of strategic partnerships and digital investments, the DepEd is committed to bridging both the classroom and digital divides to create a future-ready education system producing competitive and highly employable graduates,” he added.
In October last year, Angara admitted the dearth of funding that the DepEd has to address the nationwide classroom shortage.
The agency projected the need for about P400 billion to address the backlog of 165,000 classrooms.
The Second Congressional Commission on Education earlier suggested that the government pursue PPPs to address the backlog and accommodate the growing student population, but stressed the need to ensure stricter provisions and contracts for private concessionaires who would like to take on classroom construction projects.
This was because the implementation of the DepEd’s PPP projects for classroom construction faced setbacks due to major problems from the contractor’s side and poor project evaluation on the agency’s part, a 2017 audit report of the DepEd’s School Infrastructure Program revealed.
Apart from PPPs, Angara said the DepEd would be promoting the Adopt-A-School Program, which provides companies with tax benefits under existing laws if they decide to help public schools. – Delon Porcalla, Sheila Crisostomo