Despite fewer births, PH may still lack thousands of classrooms by 2040 – study

This year’s school opening was once again marred by one of the perennial problems of the public school system: student overcrowding due to a shortage of classrooms.

- By MERLINA HERNANDO-MALIPOT

According to data from the Department of Education (DepEd), the nationwide classroom shortage currently stands at 165,000. In a May interview, Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the shortage is expected to grow because the current budget cannot support sufficient new construction.

“Buong bansa kasi ang kakulangan, especially in highly-populated areas, mataas ang backlog (The shortage affects the entire country, especially in highly populated areas, where the backlog is significant),” he added.

Angara, a former commissioner of EDCOM 2, said DepEd may pursue a proposed Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to fast-track the construction of 105,000 classrooms. The proposed PPP comes in response to a government report warning that it may take 55 years to fully address the classroom shortage.

On Wednesday, June 18, the Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM 2) highlighted key findings from the discussion paper “Low Fertility, Ageing Buildings, and School Congestion in the Philippines: Tailwinds, Headwinds, and Some Policy Options,” released by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

The study, published this month, found that despite a declining birth rate, the Philippines could still face a shortage of 58,000 to 81,000 classrooms by 2040 if no new ones are built after 2021.

It emphasized the urgent need for sustained classroom construction to meet the country’s long-term educational needs.

Citing PIDS data, EDCOM 2 noted that severe congestion in elementary schools is most prevalent in four regions: the National Capital Region (NCR), Calabarzon (Region IV-A), Soccsksargen (Region XII), and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).