New building in Navotas eases classroom shortage

A three-story classroom building will be constructed this month in Navotas under the Japanese government’s Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) program in a bid to ease classroom shortage in the local public high school, Mayor Tobias Tiangco announced over the weekend.

Japanese Ambassador Kojiro Takano and Rosa Centeno, principal of the project beneficiary Navotas National High School, jointly signed a grant contract for the construction of the building last Tuesday.

The construction of the $75,351 (roughly P4-million) six-classroom building will be funded through the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Project (GAGP) under the ODA. The signing was witnessed by town officials led by Tiangco and Navotas Schools Division superintendent Nena Rivera.

The mayor thanked the government of Japan for helping the Navotas local government in their effort to provide its local students facilities for better quality education.

Tiangco said the project is designed to further reduce the critically high average number of students per class from the present 70 to a more manageable 55, even as the ideal ratio is pegged by education experts at 35 to a class.

"For many Filipino families, a good education is the key to get out of grinding poverty. A sufficient number of classrooms now will serve to effectively educate and empower our students to become highly productive and globally competitive citizens in the future," Tiangco said. – Jerry Botial