PRESIDENT Benigno S. C. Aquino III yesterday claimed his administration has filled the classroom shortages in public schools left by his predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
“Today (yesterday), we witnessed the ceremonial turn-over of
66,813 new classrooms which also erased the backlog we inherited from
the past administration,” Mr. Aquino said in a speech at the Carmona
National High School in Cavite.
Mr. Aquino said the Arroyo administration left a backlog of 66,800 classrooms, each costing an estimated at P800,000. His government’s public-private partnership program, the president added, had helped address part of the need.
Two groups -- the Citicore-Megawide and BF Corp.-Riverbanks Development Corp. consortiums -- won the P16.42 billion PPP for School Infrastructure Project Phase 1 (PSIP-I), involving around 9,300 classrooms, in 2012.
An update is expected to be released today.
The second phase, portions of which were awarded last year, involves the construction of an additional 4,370 classrooms.
Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma, Jr. said the Department of Education (DepEd) has also added over 62 million textbooks to address backlogs. He claimed the government saved as much as 40% as the materials were purchased a lower price.
The DepEd has also addressed a school chair shortage of 2.5 million and added 103,000 teachers, he said.
“We can see here that DepEd has made meaningful accomplishments and this serves as basis in the social development program of our government,” Mr. Coloma said.
Asked to comment, Kabataan party-list representative James Mark Terry L. Ridon said: “I am certain that the President has been misled” with regard to the classroom backlog having been addressed.
“All it takes is to go around the schools to determine that our kids still have no adequate classrooms over their heads,” the legislator said.
Mr. Aquino said the Arroyo administration left a backlog of 66,800 classrooms, each costing an estimated at P800,000. His government’s public-private partnership program, the president added, had helped address part of the need.
Two groups -- the Citicore-Megawide and BF Corp.-Riverbanks Development Corp. consortiums -- won the P16.42 billion PPP for School Infrastructure Project Phase 1 (PSIP-I), involving around 9,300 classrooms, in 2012.
An update is expected to be released today.
The second phase, portions of which were awarded last year, involves the construction of an additional 4,370 classrooms.
Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma, Jr. said the Department of Education (DepEd) has also added over 62 million textbooks to address backlogs. He claimed the government saved as much as 40% as the materials were purchased a lower price.
The DepEd has also addressed a school chair shortage of 2.5 million and added 103,000 teachers, he said.
“We can see here that DepEd has made meaningful accomplishments and this serves as basis in the social development program of our government,” Mr. Coloma said.
Asked to comment, Kabataan party-list representative James Mark Terry L. Ridon said: “I am certain that the President has been misled” with regard to the classroom backlog having been addressed.
“All it takes is to go around the schools to determine that our kids still have no adequate classrooms over their heads,” the legislator said.
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