Education Secretary Advocates for Public-Private Partnerships to Bridge Classroom and Digital Gaps

In a recent statement, Education Secretary Sonny Angara emphasized the critical role of Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in addressing the significant challenges facing the Philippine education system, particularly in classroom construction and digitalization. Angara highlighted the need for private sector involvement to efficiently tackle the country’s classroom shortage, which currently stands at around 165,000 classrooms. He proposed leveraging private investments as a sustainable solution to this pressing issue. During a meeting with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Angara outlined the Department of Education’s (DepEd) ambitious plan to build 15,000 classrooms by 2027 under the PPP School Infrastructure Project (PSIP 3). This initiative is expected to benefit over 600,000 students and create job opportunities for 18,000 Filipinos. The project’s cost is estimated to be between PHP37.5 billion and PHP60 billion. Looking ahead, the DepEd aims to expand this effort through PSIP 4 and PSIP 5, targeting the construction of up to 30,000 and 60,000 classrooms, respectively. In addition to addressing the classroom backlog, Angara stressed the importance of digitalization in modernizing the education system. The DepEd’s digitalization strategy includes distributing tablets to students and laptops to teachers, providing electricity to schools without power, and establishing low earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet connectivity for schools lacking internet access by mid-2026. Through these strategic partnerships and digital investments, the DepEd aims to create a future-ready education system that produces competitive and highly employable graduates.