Classroom backlogs to widen

A TEACHERS’ group on Thursday said the classroom backlogs will continue to widen due to insufficient target construction for 2026, the rapid increase in enrollment rate, and substandard facilities.

“We need 50,000 annually to address the 165,000 classroom backlogs,” Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) National Capital Region President Ruby Ana Bernardo told ����ý in a Facebook message on Thursday.

“During the budget hearing, the target classrooms for 2026 increased from 4,000 to over 13,000,” she said. “Far too slow to keep up with growing enrollment.”

Ms. Bernardo added that the situation has been aggravated by unfinished and substandard classrooms built by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

“While billions are being wasted on corruption-riddled projects like flood control infrastructure, our schools continue to deteriorate and remain neglected,” she said. “How can we improve the quality of education if classrooms themselves cannot be built, and those that are built are substandard?”

Education Secretary Juan Edgardo “Sonny” M. Angara revealed that over 1,000 classrooms turned over by the DPWH to the Department of Education (DepEd) are incomplete.

In line with Mr. Angara’s statement, former DPWH assistant engineer Brice Ericson P. Hernandez said last Tuesday that all projects, including classrooms, in the first district of Bulacan from 2019 to 2025 are substandard or “under-designed.”

“This confession confirms what we have long suspected — that our students and teachers are being shortchanged by substandard school buildings built with taxpayers’ money,” Ms. Bernardo said.

“This is why many school buildings, aside from being unusable, are also hazardous and unsafe for students and teachers,” she added.

In the House version of DepEd’s 2026 budget, a special provision allows the department to implement school building projects through its own engineers, or in partnership with the DPWH, local government units, or public-private partnerships.

The approved House budget for classroom construction is P22.5 billion, nearly seven times higher than the proposed P3.28 billion during the budget deliberations. — Almira Louise S. Martinez