Philippines Faces Critical Classroom Shortage, Exceeding 165,000 Units Needed

MANILA, Philippines — With Congress preparing to deliberate on the proposed 2027 national budget, addressing the nationwide classroom shortage should be one of the government’s most urgent priorities, Sen. Loren Legarda said in a statement issued on Thursday. “When a child goes to school, the only thing he should be thinking about is his studies and not where he will sit or if the classroom is safe or if there’s still space for him,” Legarda said in Filipino. “It’s hard to learn in a classroom that’s crowded, hot, and unsafe. Teachers also find it hard to teach when there’s a lack of space and facilities. Every classroom not built, or left unusable, is a direct blow to access and quality of education,” she added. Legarda stressed that the 2027 national budget must respond to the scale of the classroom backlog by ensuring sufficient funding for school infrastructure, including the construction of new classrooms and the repair, rehabilitation, and replacement of aging and unsafe school buildings. READ: Bicam-approved voucher bill to ease classroom crowding Citing figures from the Second Congressional Commission on Education (Edcom II), she said the country would need more than 165,000 classrooms, considering that over 51,000 existing classrooms may need to be condemned by 2028 due to age and deterioration. The classroom deficit is projected to rise to more than 200,000 by 2028 if current gaps are not addressed. According to Legarda, the education of millions of Filipino children is disrupted every day due to overcrowded classrooms, shifting schedules, makeshift learning spaces, and aging school buildings. These conditions put students’ safety at risk, limit teachers’ ability to teach effectively, and deny children the learning environment they need. Besides the classroom shortage, the country continues to grapple with a learning crisis. Edcom II has also identified inadequate school infrastructure, overcrowding, and unequal learning conditions among the structural barriers that continue to undermine learning outcomes. The classroom shortage, Legarda said, is a challenge affecting students nationwide, from densely populated urban schools struggling with severe overcrowding to remote communities where access to safe and adequate learning facilities remains limited. She added that while the problem is nationwide, children in geographically isolated and disadvantaged communities continue to bear the heaviest burden of decades-long infrastructure gaps. In this regard, Legarda underscored the importance of the proposed Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA) Schools Act, of which she is the principal author, as a key measure to address the unique challenges faced by the country’s most underserved schools. The measure, whose enrolled copy was transmitted to the Office of the President on June 25, 2026, awaits presidential action. The bill seeks to institutionalize stronger government support for schools in geographically isolated, disadvantaged, and conflict-affected communities by addressing long-standing gaps in infrastructure, learning resources, teacher support, and access to quality education. “The classroom shortage is a problem not only in far-flung areas. It is a national challenge that schools face in cities and towns,” she said. “But schools in GIDA are usually the ones with the biggest needs and the hardest to reach. So while we’re addressing the nationwide classroom shortage, we also need to ensure that children in the farthest communities will not be left behind,” she added. READ: Loren Legarda demands real funding for education law at CHED anniversary Legarda acknowledged that local government units, the private sector, and civil society can help accelerate classroom construction. But these partnerships with them should complement — not replace — the government’s responsibility to invest in public education. On June 9, Legarda filed Senate Resolution No. 434, seeking an inquiry into classroom congestion, infrastructure gaps, land titling bottlenecks, procurement delays, and inter-agency coordination issues affecting the timely construction of school facilities. Legarda is also a co-author and co-sponsor of the proposed Classroom-Building Acceleration Program Act, which seeks to speed up classroom construction by allowing qualified local government units and civil society organizations to undertake school building projects using national appropriations, subject to Department of Education standards. “Not only do we need to set aside a big budget. We also need to make sure that every peso set aside for education will become classrooms that are finished on time, safe to use, and will benefit children. This is our responsibility to every parent hoping to give their children a good future through education,” Legarda said. She stressed that laws, budgets, and government programs must be measured by the difference they make in the lives of Filipino children. “The measure of success is not how many laws are passed or how big a budget is approved. The true measure is if more Filipino children can study in a safe, orderly, and decent classroom,” she said. “As long as there are children forced to study in corridors, covered courts, or under trees, our job is not yet finished,” she added. /atm