BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Education officials in the Cordillera region have admitted a shortfall of close to 60 percent in the number of classrooms needed for thousands of Grade 11 finishers expected to complete their last year of Senior High School in the coming school year.
The Department of Education in the region said only 502 of the targeted 1,244 classrooms for senior high school students in public institutions are available, a 59.24 percent deficit.
DepEd assistant regional director Soraya Faculo said the Department of Public Works and Highways, the agency responsible for building the classrooms, reported difficulty in transporting materials to remote areas of the Cordillera because of the hauling costs and poor road conditions that can turn deadly during rains.
Apayao has the largest shortfall of senior high school classrooms, at 76.50 percent, followed by Tabuk City at 74.38 percent, and Kalinga, 71.05 percent. Even Baguio City is 49.58 percent short of the needed number of classrooms.
Faculo lauded local government units in the region for undertaking initiatives to help address the problem but stressed that much more needs to be done with the start of the 2017-2018 school year nearing.