DepEd denies delays in classroom construction

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) denied yesterday there were delays in the construction of new classrooms, as claimed by the Commission on Audit (COA) in its 2012 report.

COA said DepEd missed its target number of new classrooms by 72 percent in 2012.

Out of the 8,353 classrooms targeted for construction in 2012 under the school building projects of the Basic Educational Facilities Fund (BEFF), only 2,313 classrooms or 28 percent were reported completed, the COA report said.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said the agency follows the academic calendar and not the fiscal year in scheduling its projects.

“The COA report for 2012 states that DepEd missed its classroom construction target for that year, thereby affecting the goal of reducing classroom shortage. It is important to note that the department’s target date is May 2013 since the DepEd follows the school calendar and not the fiscal year,” Luistro said in a statement.

He said DepEd has to ensure that classes and other important school activities would not be disrupted by the construction work.

“Among other factors, we set the deadline to this date because we need to consider the disruptions to classes and school activities which may be caused by construction work,” he said.

Luistro, however, did not comment on the COA’s recommendation to impose sanctions on private contractors who failed to deliver and administrative penalties against DepEd field officers who were supposed to ensure that the completion deadlines were met.

Luistro said the DepEd is constantly working with the private sector and other government agencies in addressing the backlogs in basic inputs such as classrooms, chairs and textbooks through various programs, including the Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project and Adopt-A-School Program.