DepEd plans taller school buildings

Education Undersecretary Alain Del Pascua showed the design for medium-rise school buildings to address a shortage of 243,000 classrooms nationwide.

The scale model of the buildings differs from five to 12 stories as these are designed to be built in cities or urban areas “where we have a growing population brought about by urban dwellers and because of the limited land area of the school site,” Del Pascua said.

The building structure can have 25 to 60 classrooms, with each classroom accommodating 40 to 45 students.

Facilities of the proposed building are concession space, administration office, clinic, toilets, and a multipurpose covered roof deck accessible via elevator.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones said that the lack of school buildings was among the major problems of the department.

“There are those who say that the budget for constructing school buildings should be put somewhere else since the DepEd and [the Department of Public Works and Highways] are not able to follow through,” she said, noting that there were also those who still believe that physical structures are still needed.“[This mid-rise building design] is our creative solution to the ever-increasing demand for space for schools,” she said.