Classroom shortage probe urged

MINORITY lawmakers filed a resolution at the House of Representatives on Tuesday urging an inquiry into what they described as the Marcos administration and his predecessor’s failure to resolve persisting classroom shortages despite consistent public education funding.

The House basic education committee should probe what caused the “extremely low performance” of the government’s school building program despite billions being poured into it, according to House Resolution (HR) No. 425, warning of possible fund misprioritization.

“It is imperative to Congress to investigate the very low performance, low budgets and low targets in constructing the much-needed new classrooms,” the resolution, authored by Party-list Reps. Antonio L. Tinio, Sarah Jane I. Elago and Renee Louise M. Co, read.

The Education department earlier estimated it would take 55 years to eliminate the country’s 165,000-classroom backlog. Lawmakers have since increased funding for new classrooms to P35.09 billion, translating to roughly 25,200 additional classrooms, according to Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Angela B. Suansing. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio