9,450 DepEd-funded classrooms unbuilt from 2021 to 2025 -- COA

The Commission on Audit (COA) found that the Department of Education (DepEd) failed to build 66% of the classrooms funded from 2021 to 2025 under the Basic Education Facilities Fund (BEFF).

In its annual audit report, COA said DepEd has long sought to address classroom shortages by partnering with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to implement BEFF-funded projects.

“DepEd failed to construct 9,450 or 66% of 14,267 classrooms funded from 2021 to 2025 transferred and implemented by the DPWH, primarily due to site-related issues, project modifications, approval delays, untitled school sites, and other noted deficiencies in the program components of BEFF,” COA said.

These issues, COA said, undermined the program's objectives of improving classroom ratios, ensuring adequate school furniture, upgrading electrification, and improving health facilities.

According to COA, DepEd transferred the implementation of BEFF-funded classroom projects to the DPWH, with a total of 14,267 classrooms targeted for construction from 2021 to 2025.

However, only 4,817 classrooms, or 34% of the total target, were completed within the five-year period, most of them in 2025, state auditors said.

The situation raised questions about the DPWH's absorptive capacity, given its difficulty in completing the physical projects, COA said.

In 2024, some of the reasons cited for delays included site-related issues, pending demolition and building permits, and unresolved environmental clearances. In the previous year, delays were attributed to requests for and approval of project modifications.

“These limitations should have been addressed through proper planning, as they have remained a persistent issue that ought to have been resolved years back, considering that the program has been existing since 2012,” COA said.

“[T]he spillover targets” also indicated that construction timelines were not enforced and that DepEd was unable to monitor project durations, the state auditor added.

Davao del Norte 'ghost' projects

COA also flagged “non-existent, abandoned and materially incomplete infrastructure works” in Davao del Norte amounting to P83,261,456.74.

The flagged BEFF projects included those under the Last Mile Schools Program, electrification of schools without energy, repair and rehabilitation of classrooms, and construction of school health facilities.

At Kamingawan Elementary School in Talaingod, Davao del Norte, COA found that a one-storey classroom building supposed to be constructed was a ghost or non-existent project.

“No structure was found upon inspection but paid up to 98.8%,” COA said.

At Duluyan Integrated School, also in Talaingod, a classroom building was supposed to be constructed along with a solar energy system. However, COA found that the solar energy system and school furniture had not been delivered.

The two projects cost P36,357,670.57.

A similar case was found at Dugayan National High School in Kapalong, Davao del Norte. The project cost around P25.61 million, but COA found that the building was largely incomplete and abandoned.

“Only the structural frame had been constructed,” COA said.

The project was already 98.9% paid, according to the state auditors.

GMA News Online has reached out to both DepEd and the DPWH for comment and will update this story once they respond.— MCG, GMA News