Before constructing new classrooms to address its shortage in the country, the Department of Education (DepEd) is pushing for the reevaluation of building designs to ensure disaster risk reduction in schools.

DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones, during a virtual visit in DepEd Region 1, underscored the importance of looking at details in the building designs before the actual construction.

“Perhaps the building designs need to be improved, so that during calamities such as earthquakes and typhoons, the school buildings are much more secure, rather than these past calamities where many of our classrooms were immediately toppled and destroyed,” Briones said.

She added that just building these structures should always “consider” the ability to withstand strong winds, earthquakes and super typhoons.

While there are new school buildings every year, Briones said that it is not enough to measure efforts on addressing classroom shortages in the country. Proper reevaluation of building design, she added, is “needed to lessen the yearly destruction of school buildings due to calamities.” Moreover, Briones said that the reevaluation of school building designs should also consider the need to comply with the new normal guidelines set by the Department of Health (DOH) - especially as the agency pushes for the pilot implementation of limited face-to-face conduct of classes in areas with low or no cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

“We should also consider the DOH guidelines for number of students in a classroom, taking note of size of classroom and distancing for students,” Briones said. “We are now having an ongoing conversation on these building requirements,” she added.

However, Briones reminded public that the construction of school buildings is not DepEd’s “sole responsibility” but is also in collaboration with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).