Thousands of public school students get new classrooms
Thousands of students from public schools nationwide have brand new classrooms when they came to school at the opening of classes on June 3. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp, (Pagcor) and the Department of Education (DepEd) had completed the construction of 210 classrooms through the state-owned gaming firm’s “Matuwid na Daan sa Silid-Aralan” project.
The classrooms which were built in 42 schools all over the country had been completed as of April 2013. At least 11,000 students from governmentsubsidized schools in Ilocos, Pangasinan, Isabela, Bulacan, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Cavite, Rizal, Cebu, Bicol region, Romblon, Negros Oriental and Occidental, Cebu, Iloilo, Zamboanga, and Cagayan de Oro would benefit from these new school buildings. They were built using the initial P1 billion budget allocated by Pagcor in 2011 for the construction of roughly 900 classrooms in public schools and 100 Gawad Kalinga Sibol Kindergarten and alternative learning centers nationwide.
“Pagcor puts premium on the welfare of our country’s future generation of leaders by investing in their education. To help them become the best that they can be, we have to provide them with decent venues that are suitable for learning. As classes open this year, we are happy to report that thousands of public school children nationwide will be using the newly-built Pagcor classrooms,” Chairman and CEO Cristino Naguiat Jr., said.
The Pagcor chief added that apart from the 210 completed classrooms, 577 more in 92 sites nationwide are under construction while 54 more classrooms in four sites are under procurement. “We hope to finish their construction within the year so that thousands more of our public school students particularly those coming from poor communities can avail of better learning facilities,” Naguiat added.
Schools in calamity areas get priority help
Among those prioritized by Pagcor’s school building program are the public schools in Northern Mindanao which were severely affected by typhoon Sendong in December 2011.
The recently completed Pagcor- funded school buildings include the Angeles Sisters National High School which received six classrooms (two-storey building) and the North City Central Elementary School with 10 classrooms ( two- storey building), both in Cagayan de Oro. Also nearing completion are the eight classrooms (two-storey building) under construction in Consolacion Elementary School, also in Cagayan de Oro.
Angeles Sisters National High School Principal Gil Araneta said typhoon Sendong ravaged their school after floodwaters measuring 6 to 7 feet high swamped their school building. “Our chairs, computers, teachers’ tables, cabinets and other school facilities and equipment were all destroyed.”
Through the help of various agencies like Pagcor, Araneta said they were able to restore and rebuild what they lost. “Itong school building na ibinigay ng Pagcor ay malaking tulong sa amin dahil parang nagkaroon kami ng bagong pag-asa na bumangon ulit mula sa mga trahedyang nangyari sa amin (This school building from Pagcor is a big help to us because it gave us hope to rise from the tragedy that struck us),” he said.
Meantime Consolacion Elementary School Prinin cipal Fe Pimentel shared that most of their classrooms are already dilapidated and unsafe to use. “Our school has been in operation since 1947. We only have a two-storey building with eight classrooms that are safe to use by our students.”
Pimentel added they are very happy that their school became one of the recipients of Pagcor’s schoolbuilding project. “All of us here - our 1,542 school children including their parents, the community, our faculty and staff are thankful because after the devastation of typhoon Sendong we are going to have eight new concrete classrooms from Pagcor,” she said.
On the other hand Rosalio Victorillo, DepEd Monitoring Supervisor of North 1 District of Cagayan de Oro ( CDO), expressed gratitude to the agency for the new classrooms. “We thank Pagcor for providing the three schools here with a specially designed building that can withstand floods and can also be used as evacuation centers when calamity strikes again,” he cited.
Pagcor and DepEd joined hands two years ago in implementing the “Matuwid na Daan sa Silid- Aralan” school building project in response to the call of President Benigno Aquino III for the two agencies to work hand in hand to help address the severe classrooms shortage in public schools nationwide.
To widen the project’s reach, Pagcor provided an additional P2 billion funding for the construction of thousands of additional classrooms in public schools. Recently, the agency inked a Memorandum of Agreement with DepEd and the Department of Public Works and Highways to mark the second phase of the school building project.
Pagcor also addresses other signifi needs of the education sector apart from the school building project. Through its Pnoy Bayanihan project, the agency helps manufacture thousands of school chairs out of confiscated illegal logs which are then donated to public schools nationwide. It also has its own feeding program that benefits thousands of malnourished public school elementary students nationwide.