THE Bureau of Corrections on Friday confirmed it will open the College Education Behind Bars in a new building inside the Davao Prison and Penal Farm, in Davao del Norte.

BuCor Director General Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr said CEBB’s new building has two classrooms for persons deprived of liberty who wish to take up entrepreneurship courses while in detention.

“Our PDLs are the most stigmatized members of the community and earning a degree will break that barrier,” Catapang said.

The official said the construction of the building started in 2019 and was funded by the Dangerous Drugs Board, Commission on Higher Education, and donations through the Social Entrepreneurship Technology and Business Institute – a non-stock, and non-profit organization that aims to foster social entrepreneurship by uniting creative individuals to address community issues.

SETBI signed a memorandum of agreement with the BuCor in 2019 to extend its education program to the bureau.

Catapang said the new building has two classrooms designated for SETBI students and each designed to accommodate a minimum of 40 students.

For the School Year 2023-2024, he said the Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship program has initial enrollees of 20 PDLs as first year students and 18 inmates as fourth year students.

There is also one student enrolled at the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Technology program, and the Senior High School department has 40 enrollees in Grade 11 and 10 PDLs in Grade 12, respectively.