THE DEPARTMENT of Education on Wednesday confirmed that it would need P397 billion to solve the problem on classroom shortage.

During the hearing of the Senate Committee on Basic Education led by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, DepEd Assistant Secretary Francis Cesar Bringas said they need to construct 159,000 classrooms to meet the ideal ratio of students to classsrooms.

However, Bringas said under the proposed 2024 budget of the DepEd, the Department of Budget and Management only allotted P10 billion for classrooms construction.

The official said in the current year, the DBM also allotted P10 billion for the construction and renovation of 7,100 classrooms.

Meanwhile, Committee Chairman Sherwin Gatchalian showed data stating that classroom congestion is at 32 percent for Kinder up to Grade 6, 41 percent in junior high school and 50 percent in senior high school.

Bringas said some schools are implementing two to three shifts per day because of this.

Aside from classrooms, Bringas confirmed that the agency is also facing problem on teacher shortage eventhough 10,000 slots are opened every year for new education.