2-storey, 6-classroom facility replaces old school building in San Joaquin CES, Calbayog City

By CHENZI MAY UY
February 18, 2020

CALBAYOG CITY – Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), through its convergence program with the Department of Education (DepEd), has upgraded a dilapidated single-storey school building to a two-storey, six-classroom learning facility in San Joaquin Central Elementary School (SJCES) in Calbayog City.

The school building project has an allocation of P18.57 million funded by the Basic Educational Facilities Fund CY 2018 - Batch 3.

School Principal Michael Pernia expressed his gratitude towards DepEd and DPWH for choosing SJCES as a beneficiary of the school building program. “The construction of this school building is very necessary [and] urgent to San Joaquin, especially that this building has wide CRs and spacious classrooms that follow specifications for the standard classroom size,” Pernia said.

The new building is currently occupied by Grades 1 and 2, consisting of around 210 students. With an average classroom size of 35, the young learners of SJCES sit comfortably during class and focus better on their lessons.

The rest of the students in SJCES are occupying decades-old, Marcos-type buildings, some of which are already subject for demolition. The school principal hopes for these other structures to also be upgraded in the future, in order to provide a safe and conducive learning environment for all of their learners.