Marcoleta urges DepEd to ensure continuity, shun politics in school buildings program to resolve classroom gap

Marcoleta urges DepEd to ensure continuity, shun politics in school buildings program to resolve classroom gap

Senator Rodante D. Marcoleta on Tuesday stressed the significance of ensuring continuity in the school buildings program of the Department of Education (DepEd) to decisively resolve the persistent shortage of classrooms in basic education.

During Tuesday's public hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Marcoleta asked DepEd Undersecretary Wilfredo Cabral why he thought the classroom gap had worsened instead of improving after 2018.

This was after the task of constructing school buildings under the Basic Educational Facilities Fund (BEFF) in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) was transferred from DepEd to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

"Before DPWH took over, you were saying that there was a light at the end of the tunnel," Marcoleta said, referring to the period between 2016 to 2017 when the classroom shortage was significantly reduced.

"Pero you were asked, bakit hindi n'yo itinuloy? Even if it was a good policy?" he asked the DepEd official.

USec Cabral replied that he was not yet an implementer of the program at the time, which Marcoleta found unacceptable.

"That's the problem. There is no continuity, no institutional memory in DepEd," he stressed.

"I saw the master plan in South Korea. Mayroon silang sinusunod na plano: 1901 until present. Kahit tatlong presidente na ang pinakulong nila, it did not matter. Yung programa ng presidenteng nakulong, itinuloy nila yun," noted the senator.

"That's probably the reason why we haven't (addressed the classroom gap). Wala dapat politika. That's the difference between us and South Korea," he noted.

The hearing discussed the proposed Classroom Building Acceleration Program Bill (SB 121), which seeks to explore various avenues to reduce the cost and accelerate the construction of classrooms for public schools.

The proposals include public-private partnerships, coordinating with non-profit groups, and adopting the best practices of local government units that have critically reduced their classroom shortage.

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