DepEd expects 1% hike in enrolment

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu City Schools Division is expecting over 182,000 students to troop to 122 public schools in the city during the opening of classes on June 3.

Dr. Bianito Dagatan, city schools division superintendent, said the number is one percent higher compared to the 178,783 students enrolled during the last school year. With the expected increase in the enrolment, Dagatan said they are also anticipating the need for additional classrooms.

He, however, said that preparations had been made by the national government to address the classroom shortage.

“As of now, we have 47 rooms newly completed, 40 rooms for completion, and 206 rooms ongoing construction. We have also 143 rooms with ongoing repairs,” Dagatan told The Freeman.

These constructions are under the First Engineering District of the Department of Public Works and Highways-7.

Dagatan said that DepEd and DPWH district offices are coordinating every month to ensure that the timeline of these projects are on target. According to Dagatan, these ongoing projects are sufficient to address the needs for classrooms in the city.

He, however, said that the existing setup of having day and night classes will remain to maximize the use of the classrooms.

He said the division has 122 public schools wherein 68 schools offer both kinder and elementary while 54 offering junior high school and 49 offering senior high school.

“There are some that are using their libraries, faculty rooms, and laboratory rooms. Hopefully more rooms will be completed the soonest as a result of DPWH close monitoring with the contractors,” Dagatan said.

Asked of the possible construction of additional schools in the city, Dagatan said it would be an option as it would offer available sites to decongest the existing schools.

He said the national government as well as the city government has the fund to construct buildings but the city’s existing school sites has no more enough buildable space to accommodate more buildings especially in the lowland. — FPL (FREEMAN)