WE have written before in this space about the classroom gap in our public schools, which stands at 145,000 classrooms. This has led to students having classes under the trees, or in the early evening, or very early morning. It has also led to two classes being held simultaneously in one classroom.
All of these band-aid solutions could not stem the ill effects of the lack of classrooms, which is a diminution of the learning experience for our students. Hence, we have our students’ dismal scores in international assessments, where they place at the bottom of the list with the least prepared students in mathematics, science, critical thinking and reading.
The Palace must have finally realized these deleterious effects and decided to act fast. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that local government units would now be at the forefront in the construction of classroom.
''We are changing the system because the process now is too slow. With this initiative, we can take a big bite out of that gap. The Department of Education will set the technical standards, provide designs, and supply the funding for these classrooms,'' Marcos said. ''On the other hand, the LGUs will take the lead in their procurement and construction.''
As of December 2025, the classroom backlog stood at 145,000 units. “How have we allowed this to become such a bad situation? I cannot understand,'' the president said. He clarified that the administration has been sourcing alternative ways “to close this yawning gap because we cannot wait another 10 years to ensure that every student has a comfortable classroom. This is one of our strategies to close the gap.''
The government is planning to convert some of the abandoned POGO buildings into classrooms. The lack of land in town and barangay centers is one of the causes cited for the huge backlog of classrooms. Marcos is confident that the construction of these school facilities by LGUs would not result in ghost and substandard projects.
The president explained that the LGUs won't allow graft and corruption to happen that because what's in front of them are the residents of the place, the parents whose children study in the schools. They will be blamed if their projects are not good. “They will knock on the mayors’ doors and tell them to fix the problem,” the president said.
In a press briefing, Palace press officer Claire Castro expressed belief that the corrupt practices would not be ''transferred'' to the LGUs.
''Let's not easily assume that there will be corruption. We are doing this, first, to address the classroom shortage. This doesn't mean that corrupt practices will be transferred to the LGUs since the president doesn't want corruption.”
Under the new system, the local government units will carry out the construction, rehabilitation and improvement of classrooms within their jurisdictions, including procurement and on-site implementation, in accordance with national standards.
Meanwhile, the DepEd will identify the priority schools, issue standard classroom designs and technical specifications, and oversee the process through plan review, validation of completed works, and compliance checks on safety, accessibility and quality standards.
“These signatures mark the end of working in silos. They mark the beginning of shared responsibility," said Education Secretary Sonny Angara. Angara also noted that the partnership complements existing national school building programs and leverages local implementation capacity to speed up delivery while maintaining national standards.
The DepEd and LGUs will share responsibility for funding, monitoring and long-term maintenance, supported by regular financial and physical accomplishment reports, key performance indicators, and public disclosure measures to ensure transparency, accountability and timely project completion.
Marcos has committed that his administration would prioritize education until the end of his term. ''And that is why, I have pledged for the remainder of this administration, we will prioritize — first priority will be education,'' he said. It will be remembered that his father, President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr., built Bagong Lipunan schools all over the Philippines in the early years of martial law. These one-story school buildings replaced the Gabaldon-style wooden school buildings that were prevalent throughout the archipelago.
This piece of welcome news is part of a package that will benefit our public school teachers and students. Among them are the hiring of new teachers as well as new guidance counselors and administrative staff, to bring back the teachers to the classrooms. New classrooms with fully trained teachers might just be the good news for our education sector, when classes reopen in June.
