THE government will spend P5.37 billion to build 11,673 classrooms this year, but would still lack at least 8,450 classrooms at the end of the year owing to a surge in public school enrollment, Sen. Ralph Recto said on Monday.

Recto said the P1.126-trillion national budget for 2007 allocates P1.61 billion for schools experiencing severe classroom shortage, P1.76 billion under the regular school building program, and P2 billion for the replacement of classrooms destroyed by the four  typhoons that hit the Bicol Region, the Visayas, and  Southern Tagalog last year.

The classrooms will be built at an average cost of P460,000 each, according to the Budget department, although classrooms built with private sector equity would cost less.

But Recto said a projected surge in public sector enrollment would cancel the increase in classroom inventory.

Student enrollment this school year stands at 17.845 million but is expected to increase by 800,000, or to 18.645 million, in the 2007-2008 academic year, triggered in part by the migration of private high school students to free public secondary schools.

The 800,000 new enrollees would need 16,000 classrooms at 50 students per class or 8,000 classrooms if they would, however, attend class in two shifts, which is the norm in many government-run schools.

The 16,000 new rooms needed if added to the classroom backlog which stood at 4,123 units at the end of 2006 would mean that 20,123 units will be needed this year.

But with the planned construction of 11,673 classrooms, the shortage would be pruned down to 8,450 classrooms.

To wipe out this backlog, about P3.8 billion will be needed, “which can be sourced out of revenue collections this year,” Recto said.

Former senator Loren Legarda meanwhile paid tribute to “overworked but underpaid” teachers for the sacrifices they make to help improve the quality of education in the Philippines.

Legarda said that in the campaign sorties of the Genuine Opposition (GO) nationwide, teachers from both public and private schools have asked her to file legislative measures that “would create a well-informed, values-oriented and more productive citizenry through education.”

“Increasing the salaries of teachers, as well as the annual budget for education, is already a given,” said Legarda, who sends to school indigent children through her Libro Ni Loren Foundation.

“Teachers should receive compensation commensurate to the extra-human efforts they exert and the big role they play in molding our youth,” she stressed.  (With B. Cordero)

DEFENSE and military officials on Monday blasted the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) in The Hague, which recently handed a guilty verdict against President Arroyo and US President George W. Bush for alleged human-rights violations.

THE bitter rivalry between the dominant Lakas and the upstart Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), the two main pillars of the ruling coalition, could take a severe toll on the senatorial bid of candidates running under the Malacañang-backed Team Unity, a senior administration lawmaker warned Monday.

TEAM Unity (TU) spokesman Joseph Ace Durano expressed confidence on Monday that no candidates from the administration ticket would withdraw from the senatorial race.

THE government will spend P5.37 billion to build 11,673 classrooms this year, but would still lack at least 8,450 classrooms at the end of the year owing to a surge in public school enrollment, Sen. Ralph Recto said on Monday.

THE results of the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) confirmed a long-standing perception, that the quality of education in both public and private schools has dropped significantly and consequently resulted as well in undeveloped aptitudes in students. The tests were administered on January 17 to 1.31 million fourth- year high-school students.