City to build 60 classrooms after May polls

The city government will build 60 more classrooms for the elementary and secondary public schools in the city this year, starting after the May 14 election.

City Hall consultant on education Joy Augustus Young said these classrooms would be built in urban barangays of Pardo, Tisa, Guadalupe and in rural barangays of Taptap and Buot-Taup.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier announced that he already asked his brother, Senator Sergio Osmeña III to set aside P100 million from the latter's development fund for this classrooms' project.

The mayor said he also requested President Gloria Arroyo and Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya to facilitate and expedite the release of Senator Osmeña's fund so that the city government could start the construction as soon as possible.

Young, instructed by Mayor Osmeña to conduct a study on the project, said the project would be done in four batches with completion target set on January 2008. He that the funds would be released sooner so that project bidding would be held immediately.

The severe shortage of classrooms in the city however prompted the city government to accomplish this project earlier or before the end of 2007, said Young.

He said that, at present, 50 to 55 students are packed into a classroom in a situation common to almost all elementary and high schools in the city. The ideal ratio of classrooms to students is 1 is to 45, according to the Department of Education.

Young explained that although 60 more classrooms could not make the city hit the ideal number of classrooms to students, these could help a lot in easing the present problem on classroom shortage. - Wenna A. Berondo/RAE