The Manila city government broke ground on Monday for the construction of the modern 10-storey public school building of the Rosauro Almario Elementary School.
Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso, an alumnus of the school, led the groundbreaking ceremony on Kagitingan Street in Tondo, Manila where the 10-storey building will soon rise.
"Today, we will provide more jobs, more classrooms. We will achieve better student-teacher ratio for better and conducive classroom environment in a public education system," he said.
"We will use adversity to our advantage. Time to develop. Time to put vision into action. Time will not be wasted," Domagoso added.
The construction of the new school is in line with the city government's plan to modernize the city's public school sector.
"Today, we can honestly say that we are going to address population growth in the next 15 years of our lives. There is a space for your future children," Domagoso said.
The 10-storey building features 227 classrooms, 12 offices, a library on the 2nd floor, an auditorium at the 10th floor, a gymnasium at the 10th floor, two outdoor basketball courts with retractable goal convertible to football field at the ground floor, two roof deck outdoor sport and exercise areas, eight elevator units with 24-person capacity or a total of 192 load capacity), and seven stairs node.
The city government has allotted 1.9 million budget for the construction of the new school which is only one of the three modernized public schools that the local government plans to build.
The two other schools are Dr. Alejandro Albert Elementary School and Manila Science High School.
"Gusto kong maiparamdam sa mga anak n'yo ang mga naranasan ng mga anak ko. Makamit din nila ang magara, mainam at kumpletong pasilidad sa pampublikong paaralan. Maswerte tayo sa mga mapagmahal at matiyagang mga guro at principal (I want your children to experience what my children have experienced. For them to have state-of-the-art and modern facilities in a public school setting. We are lucky to have loving and nurturing teachers and principals)," Domagoso said.