Gov’t adopts new technology to address classroom shortage

In line with President Arroyo’s thrust of improving the standard of education, the Department of Public Works and Highways has adopted a new construction technology utilizing Iso-Panel pre-fabricated material to immediately address the shortage of 44,000 classrooms in the country.

The "Dura-Quick" building design shortens the construction period of a typical two-classroom school building to only 12 days at a much lower cost than conventional materials.

It was approved and endorsed by Public Works and Highways Secretary Florante Soriquez and concurred by Education Undersecretary Ramon Bacani.

The accreditation for school building design and structure using Iso-Panel pre-fabricated materials was given to a consortium of five Korean companies, which offered the technology to the Philippine government.

The consortium is led by Lee Kyu-cheol and Pang Young-suk, president, respectively, of Kyoung Won Steel Corp. and Nambu Steel Corp., two of South Korea’s largest steel companies.

Their representative in the Philippines, Dr. Chang Ik-jin of Bo-Ryoung Realty and Development Corp., presented to the DPWH’s Bureau of Design, headed by director Danilo Manalang, the proposal which was found suitable to solve the perennial classroom shortage following tedious researches and studies.

To assure the effectiveness of the new technology, Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Antonio Inocentes instructed Manalang to conduct comprehensive research and analysis on the advantages of implementing the technique in the country.

The Matrix of Comparative Analysis prepared by the Bureau of Design demonstrated the great advantage of Iso-Panel or the Dura-Quick system over hollow blocks and concrete in the areas of insulation, cost, construction period and maintenance.

The adoption of the Iso-Panel or the Dura-Quick system, according to the analysis, will greatly benefit government contractors of school buildings as well as schoolchildren in the future.

The system, which uses a metal cladding with expanded polystyrene insulation, is widely used in various buildings in Korea and is ideal for school buildings because of its quick installation, comfortable ambient temperature, low maintenance cost and durable features.

Chang, chairman of Bo-Ryoung Realty, said their firm has actually erected prototype buildings and donated them as a gesture of goodwill to the Filipino people.

These included a two-classroom school building at the Consuelo Elementary School in San Marcelino, Zambales; a model school building at the Holy Angel industrial estate in Bacolor, Pampanga; an AFP-PNP-DILG model house in Silang, Cavite; a health center in Mabalacat, Pampanga; and a dormitory-office at the Malaya power plant in Rizal.

To further show its gratitude, the Korean consortium is donating one Iso-Panel pre-fabricated-type classroom with chairs in Naga City. The building materials from Korea are expected to arrive in Manila tomorrow.