As public school students across the Philippines began classes on Monday, Education Secretary Sonny Angara cited a nationwide shortage of 165,000 classrooms as a major challenge.
Angara, in an interview, warned that at the current pace of construction, it could take over 50 years to eliminate the backlog.
The Department of Education (DepEd) completed just 192 of its 6,379-classroom target last year, according to the Commission on Audit (COA).
The DepEd chief then revealed they have already crafted a proposal for the construction of 105,000 classrooms in three years under a public-private partnership (PPP).
“If we don’t do this, we will be left behind,” Angara said.The Education Department expects enrollment to reach 27 million students this school year across more than 47,000 public schools.
