A TOTAL OF 381 school building projects with a total of 851 classrooms were completed by various District Engineering Offices of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Western Visayas, providing a more manageable student-classroom ratio in the public education system in Western Visayas.
The said projects, with the total amount of P1.189 billion, are funded under the agency’s 2017 Basic Education Facilities Fund (Beff) in convergence with the Department of Education (DepEd).
These projects include classroom buildings for elementary schools and secondary schools as well as workshop or laboratory buildings for senior high schools.
According to DPWH-Western Visayas Assistant Regional Director Jose Al Fruto, these projects were hastened in time for the opening of classes for the school year 2018-2019.
Fruto added that these buildings were built to accommodate the growing student population in different schools in the region, reaching even those who are in far-flung areas.
“With these additional school buildings, our government will be able to address the need for more classrooms, considering the increasing number of enrollees both in elementary and secondary as well as the senior high school students,” he added.
He also said that DPWH will remain steadfast in its commitment to continually support the program of the government by providing enough classrooms to cope with the shortage of classrooms for elementary schools and technical-vocational buildings for senior high school (SHS) program.
“Hopefully we can build a lot more classrooms this year and we, parents, only wish to have better learning facilities for our children,” Fruto said.
Meantime, under its Fiscal Year 2016 Beff, the DPWH-Western Visayas has programmed a total of 618 school building projects with the allocation of P7.445 billion, 503 are completed, 105 are still ongoing and eight have yet to be started. (PR)