By Alexander Villafania
PASIG CITY, METRO MANILA – Several government agencies and private firms are targeting to build another 12,000 classrooms in the next two years in an effort to cap the classroom shortage in the public education sector.
At least P1.8 billion has been committed by government agencies and private firms with the Department of Education (DepEd), the recipient of the classroom build out program. This is already on top of the P8-billion budget that the DepEd has set just for 2011.
DepEd admitted that the classroom backlog for school year 2010 to 2011 was at 66,800 units. In total, there is a backlog of at least 150,000 classrooms.
Still, DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro said the partnerships with other private organizations and government offices would help achieve their goals of providing basic education to the public.
DepEd tapped into different partnering programs to get support for the 12,000 classrooms. For government agencies, DepEd signed a 50/50 counterpart scheme wherein local government units would pay for half the budget to construct classrooms while the other half would be shouldered by the DepEd.
The 50/50 scheme was entered by League of Provinces of the Philippines, and League of Municipalities of the Philippines. So far, commitment here has reached around P800 million.
DepEd applied the Adopt-A-School scheme, which is fully funded by private firms. Among the companies that have signed up are Jollibee Foundation, SM Foundation, Coca-Cola Foundation, Petron, PhilamLife Foundation, and the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company.
Other partners are the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSB), League of Corporate Foundation (LCF), and the Philippine Business for Education (PBEd).
Luistro said that another P1 billion worth of partnerships is ready for sign up in the coming weeks.
