DEPARTMENT of Education- Western Visayas Regional Director Gemma Ledesma said their agency aims to address the reported shortages in classrooms and teachers in the Third District of Negros Occidental.

In yesterday's 2nd Education Summit for the Third District sponsored by Representative Alfredo Benitez, schools division superintendents revealed that they need 188 more teachers, 61 classrooms, and 12,741 school chairs to accommodate about 102,760 public school students.

The DepEd is ready to address these shortages, however, they should be validated first, Ledesma said.

Ledesma said there are some elementary schools that have excess teachers, and they can be used to fill in the needs of other schools.

Education Assistant Secretary Elvin Uy also said the DepEd will fund the construction of more classrooms and school furniture, but the shortage data should be subjected to study.

Once the existing shortage is verified, DepEd will fill it, Uy said.

Records from the DepEd Schools Division in the Third District further showed that it needs 549 teachers, 15,954 school chairs, and 366 classrooms for the first year of implementation of the senior high school next year.

The Third District is expecting 14,494 senior high school students in school year 2016-2017.

More than 200 school heads attended the 2nd Education Summit themed, “Straight to the Point: Building Partnerships and Generating Resources for K to 12,” held at the Senator Jose Locsin Cultural Center in Silay City.