DepEd proposed 64,000 classrooms, got funding for only 8,000

MANILA, Philippines —Funding for only 8,000 new classrooms out of 64,000 that the Department of Education (DepEd) had proposed has been approved by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for 2020, a DepEd official told the Senate.

Education Undersecretary Alain Del Pascua told the Senate Committee on Finance on Thursday, Sept. 12, that the country needed over 106,081 classrooms but only 64,795 was proposed by the DepEd to the DBM.

“The need at this time for number of classrooms is about 106,081. This is the need for classroom as of this time,” Del Pascua said at the Senate hearing on DepEd’s 2020 budget.

“The proposal that we gave to DBM for this year is for 64,795 considering the cash-based system and the other targets that we’ve undertaken the following year. But we only got 8,000 classrooms out of that proposal,” he added.

For 2020, DepEd proposed P171.1 billion to fund the construction of 64,795 classrooms but the DBM approved only P20 billion for 8,000 multi-story classrooms.

Education Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla said the school buildings still under construction house multi-story classrooms, making it harder for the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to build.

The DPWH, she said, “will really require more time to complete” the school buildings with the new design./TSB