The Department of Education (DepEd) announced on December 20 that it signed an agreement under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to fund the construction of classrooms in the country. Under this agreement, DepEd plans to build 15,000 classrooms in 1,600 schools in nine regions worth $1 million under the “School Building Program Phase III.”

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)-Philippines condemned the government for overrelying on PPPs to address infrastructure shortages. “The government should not pass on to the private sector its responsibility to provide quality education. The state should directly fund the sector’s needs,” Quetua stressed.

ACT also pointed out that DepEd’s plan only meets 6% of the 250,000 classrooms needed to implement the recommended 40-45 students per classroom, as per DepEd’s own recommendation. Vladimer Quetua, ACT’s national chairperson, stated that even more is required to reach the ideal 1:35 teacher-student ratio.

ACT Teachers Party-list Representative Antonio Tinio said, “Allocating the billions of confidential funds and the budget for the upcoming elections to social services like education could address the classroom shortage and other school needs.” ACT Teachers also condemned the Marcos administration for funding confidential funds.

Teachers have long been calling for the allocation of 6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) for the education sector, in line with the recommendation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). ACT further emphasized that the government should pay attention to more comprehensive and long-term infrastructure-building programs for education.

Consequently, the group is pushing for the hiring of additional new teachers, adequate teaching materials, and proper maintenance of facilities to advance education. “The future of millions of Filipino students depends on the government’s investment in education infrastructure,” Quetua added.