ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro on Sunday scored the Department of Education (DepEd) for boasting about the construction of 2,201 classrooms although records at the agency showed a shortage of at least 165,000 classrooms nationwide.
“Ang DepEd mismo ang nagtarget na mga 5,000-6,000 ang mga silid-aralan na maipapagawa nitong 2023. Disyembre 31 na pero 2,201 lang ang nagawa, ni wala sa kalahati ng sarili nilang target tapos may gana pang ipagmalaki na magandang accomplishment daw ito, napakababa naman ng standard ng Kalihim ng DepEd at napakalayo sa bilis nyang gastusin ng P125 milyon ng illegal confidential fund sa loob lamang ng 11 araw noong 2022 (DepEd itself set the target of 5,000-6,000 classrooms to be construction in 2023. It is already Dec. 31 but onty 2,201 were built. It’s not even one-half of their target, yet they brag about it as a good accomplishment. The DepEd secretary has a very low standard in contrast with the speed she spent P124 million in illegal confidential fund in only 11 days in 2022,” Castro noted.
“As it is, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s vow to prioritize the construction of new classrooms and DepEd Secretary Vice President Sara Duterte’s recognition of the enormity of shortage in school infrastructure and facilities in her Basic Education Report 2023 appear to be insincere as they failed to demonstrate their firm resolve to cut down the classroom shortage significantly,” the lawmaker added.
The ACT Teachers party-list said “the gravity of the classroom crisis necessitates a more ambitious and long-term plan.”
“Only through constructing 50,000 classrooms every year can we improve the learning conditions, and remove major roadblocks to education recovery,” Castro added.
“It is a baseless claim that constructing 50,000 classrooms per year is impossible as the agency was able to build 100,936 classrooms for three years from 2014 to 2016. From 2014 to 2018, the budget allocations for classroom construction range from P39 billion to P109 billion yearly. It had been done and it can be done again if only the current administration were sincere in addressing the classroom crisis as well as the bigger learning crisis,” she stressed.