We urge the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (Ched) and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to improve their regulatory minimum standards on the design, specifications, construction, and safety of classrooms and school buildings.
Those classrooms and school buildings should be able to survive direct hits of Signal No. 4, typhoons, magnitude 8 earthquakes and massive flooding. Only the best builders and professionals should be trusted to construct those facilities where our children and teachers will study and work. Hindi dapat sa mga under-capitalized proprietorships at kumpanya ina-award ang kontrata (Contracts should not be awarded to undercapitalized proprietorships and companies).
The National Structural Code of the Philippines can be improved. This can be done administratively without need for a law. Some contractors, especially those who build high-rise condominiums apply higher standards than the minimum legal and regulatory standards.
Dapat itaas ng DepEd at Ched ang kanilang standards. Ipagkatiwala lamang sa mga pinakamahusay at may kredibilidad na contractor sa pribadong sektor ang paggawa ng mga silid-aralan. Huwag ibigay sa DPWH o sa mga fly-by-night na contractors gumagamit ng maliliit na pako at turnilyo sa bubong at bintana. Lalong huwag sa mga contractor na gumagamit ng malabnaw na semento, maninipis na bakal, at marurupok na yero para sa mga pader, sahig, bubong, at pundasyon (DepEd and Ched must raise their standards. The construction of classrooms should only be entrusted to the best and most credible contractors in the private sector. Do not give the work to the DPWH or to fly-by-night contractors who use small nails and screws for the roofs and windows. Even less so should it go to contractors who use weak cement, thin steel and brittle roofing sheets for the walls, floors, roofs and foundations).