Insufficient classrooms in most public schools across the country remains to be the top problem of the Department of Education (DepEd) for School Year 2025-2026.
Some 27 million students trooped to public and private schools on Monday, June 16.
For SY 2025-2026, DepEd projected the enrollment in elementary at 15.42 million; junior high school (Grades 7 to 10) at 8.01 million; and senior high school (Grades 11 and 12) at 4.17 million.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara on Monday said the country is lacking around 165,000 classrooms.
"This will require schools to implement class shifting or hybrid learning arrangements to accommodate the students. It will take around 30 years to address the classroom shortage in the country, given the current budget for the education sector," he said.
Angara said the DepEd is working with various sectors, including public-private partnerships, to address the classrooms backlog.
He added that the opening of classes was smooth as of the first half of the day, and teachers have not reported any problems so far.
SY 2025-2026 will run through March 31, 2026, with a total of 197 class days.