THREE new school buildings with 37 classrooms, built at the cost of P62 million, have helped ease the shortage of classrooms in two public schools in Lapu-Lapu City.
Dr. Marilyn Andales, Schools Division superintendent of the Department of Education (DepEd) Lapu-Lapu, said yesterday that the 25 new classrooms of Marigondon Elementary School will help address the school’s shortage of classrooms.
Andales was referring to the two new school buildings turned over yesterday by the Lapu-Lapu City government and DepEd to the Marigondon Elementary School.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza turned over the P27-million 16-classroom four-story building to the school yesterday morning while DepEd also turned over its P15-million 9-classroom three-story building in the afternoon.
Andales said the funds for the four-story building was taken from the Lapu-Lapu city government’s Special Education Fund (SEF) while the three-story building was funded by the DepEd national office.
Andales said with the new classrooms, the double-shift classes implemented by the school will be lessened and the school will now hold more whole-day classes for most grade levels.
She added that with the additional classrooms, the school, which had 90 classrooms, will now have more than 100 classrooms.
Andales also said that DepEd Lapu-Lapu is ready for the opening of classes this Monday even with the implementation of Senior High School this year.
She said 51 teachers for Senior High School had just completed their training at the Ecotech in Lahug, Cebu City.
The Junior High School has an additional 33 new items while there are 66 for the Elementary schools.
Also yesterday, the Lapu-Lapu city government turned over a P20-million 12-classroom three-story building to the Pajo National High School.
During the building’s turnover, Radaza thanked the private sector and non-government organizations, who partnered with the city government through a public-private partnership to address the shortage of classrooms in the city.
Meanwhile, Superintendent Bianito Dagatan, Cebu City Schools Division, cited Cebu City’s lack of classrooms especially for the senior high school classes when schools open on Monday.
He said that only 26 out of 51 schools in the city that offer senior high schools have additional classrooms.
He cited the delay of building of the 318 classrooms for the city’s Senior High School program as the reason for the problem.
One of the reasons for the delay is the construction firm contracted by the Department of Public Works and Highways to build the classrooms started work only in January.
Despite the lack of classrooms, Dagatan said classes will still continue.
Cebu City targets 6,000 students for senior high school in public schools this school year. As of yesterday, their record was 4,000 students.
“Maybe some students enrolled in private schools while others will enroll during the opening of classes,” he said.