(MANILA BULLETIN)

Undersecretary Epimaco Densing III said the Department of Education (DepEd) is looking at the use of technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), as an alternative tool in addressing the perennial problem of classroom shortage in the Philippines. 

During the House Committee on Appropriations' recent deliberation on DepEd's proposed budget under the P5.768-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) form 2024, Densing acknowledged the huge challenge in addressing the country's classroom backlog. 

"While we are focusing on the infrastructure as a traditional way of addressing problems of the past as mentioned by the Vice President-Secretary [Sara Duterte], we're also looking at technology, blended learning as another way of looking at--addressing classroom shortage," he told the appropriations panel. 

"In fact we are scheduled to meet with a technology, Microsoft technology [representative] to brief us on what they call AI on virtual classrooms," shared Densing. 

The classroom shortage in the Philippines is pegged at 165,000. On top of this, some 189,000 school buildings are in need of either major or minor repairs, according to DepEd. 

As far as actual construction of new classrooms is concerned, Densing said their current strategy is to essentially maximize available land. 

"In the absence of buildable spaces, the instruction or directive right now is to stop or minimize one-story classrooms. We intend to build multi-story to maximize the buildable spaces," he said. 

Under this plan, DepEd will construct mid-rise or high rise buildings that are between five to 12 stories tall. 

DepEd has a P19.6-billion budget for the construction of 7,879 new classrooms next year.