75 more classrooms to be built in Bataan

BALANGA CITY, Bataan – A total of 75 more classrooms will be built in the province under the Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project (PSIP) of the Department of Education (DepEd).

Even before the implementation of this program, Governor Abet S. Garcia and Rep. Enrique “Tet” Garcia, 2nd district, have been setting aside huge amount for the construction of public schools during the past several years that made Bataan, one of the provinces in the country who do not suffer from classroom shortage.

Not only that, close to 100,000 deserving students have also graduated under the Iskolar ng Bataan scholarship program, which was started by Rep. Tet Garcia when he was still the governor of the province and is being continued by Gov. Abet.

“PSIP is the first social infrastructure PPP project under the Aquino administration that aims to help address the shortage of over 60,000 classrooms nationwide,” National Economic and Development Authority Regional Director and Regional Development Council Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC) chair Severino Santos said in a press statement.

It was learned that 2,885 new classrooms in Central Luzon were earlier completed under Phase I with the ceremonial turnover witnessed by President Benigno Aquino III during a visit in Malolos City.

The design for the classrooms sets it apart from traditional, boxed-in types. Load-bearing walls eliminate the need for wall posts, creating larger classroom spaces while hallway and stair areas were also given wider clearance. Inside, the rooms benefit from maximized circulation of natural light and air and the chalkboards are specially curved so that students can better read the notes from all areas of the classroom.

In a report submitted to RPMC, DepEd said that as of March 2015, they have completed 193 classrooms in 66 buildings while construction of the remainder are currently ongoing and are due to be finished in time for the school opening in June