NEGROS Occidental – The Negros Island Region’s (NIR) public schools are not only grappling with a lack of classrooms but also with the shortage of teachers for school year 2025–2026.
Almyr Caezar Dequiña, spokesperson for the Department of Education (DepEd)-NIR, revealed the figures.
Citing official data from the regional office, Dequiña said the region is facing a shortage of 6,298 classrooms in its public schools.
To mitigate the classroom shortage, schools are maximizing available spaces and implementing shifting class schedules.
“We are doing everything we can in order to address the problem,” Dequiña assured.
In addition to the classroom backlog, Dequiña said the NIR is also short of 877 public school teachers. He however noted that this shortage is relatively smaller compared to other regions.
“We are fast-tracking the hiring process to address the teacher gap,” he said.
Meanwhile, enrollment in the region has already reached 88.02 percent of the target. As of June 23, a total of 1,295,463 K to 12 learners have enrolled in public schools across the NIR.
DepEd-NIR aims to hit its target of around 1.3 million enrollees before the enrollment deadline on June 30. (Watchmen Daily Journal)/PN
