The Department of Education (DepEd) is set to work with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to hasten the construction of more classroom buildings.

In an ambush interview on Monday during his visit to Carmona National High School, Education Secretary Sonny Angara admitted that one of the challenges in the current procurement system of the agency is the validation process.

“Hindi nakaka-construct dahil ‘di nava-validate yung ibang school sites, may mga problema ‘dun sa kung may titulo na ‘yung lupa, may problema kung hindi pala kaya nung lupain ‘yung multi-story building, so ‘yung tinatawag na (We can’t construct because other schools sites are not being validated, like if it has a land title, problem with the land being uncapable of a multi-story building in it, what they call the) soil test,” Angara explained.

The DepEd chief is looking forward to addressing the problem before the year ends and start constructing more classroom buildings by January next year.

“Kailangan magbago ‘yung current system na ‘yun at nakikita ko ‘yung early procurement activities na tinatawag. Ginagawa ho yan sa Department of Public Works. Sana gawin din namin (We need to change the current system and I am eyeing the so-called early procurement activities. It is being done in the Department of Public Works. I hope we can also do it) through coordination between DepEd and DPWH,” Angara said.

Angara earlier reported that the country still needs to build 159,000 classrooms, which increases by 12,000 per year.

Last year, DepEd proposed to spend PHP397 billion to build the needed classrooms which will cost PHP2 million each.

Meanwhile, Angara assured that DepEd can now access the funds for the repair of school buildings that were damaged by Typhoon Carina. (PNA)