MANILA, Philippines – Around P95.798 billion allotted for the construction of new classrooms this year remain untouched following several delays in the implementation of the 2017 Basic Education Facilities Fund.

This was announced by Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary Alain Pascua in a press conference on Tuesday, August 15. (READ: How DepEd plans to address PH classroom shortage) 

He said out of the P109.314-billion budget for classroom construction in 2017, only P13.515 billion have been allocated by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for about 5,165 new classrooms. Around 47,492 classrooms are targeted to be built this year. 

The two agencies had signed a memorandum of agreement in March delegating the task of building new classrooms and replacing old buildings to the DPWH. The DepEd is still in charge of repairs, buying furniture, and providing electricity to schools. 

Pascua explained the delay is mainly caused by the intensive pre-construction assessment that the DepEd and the DPWH conducted on the areas where the new classrooms are set to be built. 

From January to April, they determined whether or not the areas have buildable spaces, how many classrooms are needed per building, and what type of soil the foundation will be built upon.  

The DepEd also proposed several designs to make the school buildings more resistant to natural disasters and other effects of climate change.  

“So all these – soil validation, adoption of the designs, soil test results – necessitated a recomputation of rates and costing of the buildings. These caused the delay,” said Pascua in Filipino.

This means the purchase of school furniture is delayed as well, with the DepEd only spending P254.592 million so far out of the available P2.475 billion allocated for this item. 

Sharing the ‘burden’ with DPWH

To help address the delay, Pascua said the DPWH has committed to release all funds for the construction of single-storey school buildings by August and multi-storey buildings by November. 

Still, the DepEd is asking the Department of Budget and Management as well as the 17th Congress to allow them to construct single- and two-storey classrooms once again by 2018.

Pascua said this can be the DepEd’s way of helping the Duterte administration in its ambitious Build, Build, Build infrastructure program.  

“Hati kami ni DPWH (The DepEd and the DPWH can share). Because of the Build, Build, Build program now of the Duterte administration, dadami ang proyekto ng DPWH (the DPWH’s projects will increase). This is one way of saying that we want to help in the sharing of responsibility in the building of new classrooms, that we are not allowed by Congress to do so,” said Pascua. 

Classroom shortage has been a perennial problem for the DepEd despite its ever-increasing annual budget. For 2018, the department is proposing a budget worth P612.117 billion, the highest among all government agencies. – Rappler.com