A 12-storey public school building soon to rise in Cebu, the first in PH

CEBU CITY- The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) through the Office of Cebu City South District Congressman Edu Rama with Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara and DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan led the groundbreaking ceremony on January 30 for the construction of a 12-Storey public school building in  to be constructed at the grounds of Don Vicente Rama Memorial National High School (DVRMNHS) in Barangay Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City and said to be the first in the Philippines.

The medium-rise school building is the first of its kind in the country with a funding of about P700M that houses 42 classrooms and nine workshop rooms dedicated to junior and senior high school students of Cebu City South District. The academic building has an elevator and toilets in every floor.

“We are grateful to our National Government, under the leadership of President Marcos, that the first ever Medium - Rise School Building will soon rise in Don Vicente Rama Memorial National High School to address classroom shortages and enhance the learning opportunities for our learners.” Cong. Rama said.

Rama bared that he started the groundwork in seeking for the funding sometime in 2022 with the various government agencies such as the DPWH, DepEd, DENR and mentioned the National Government's initiative to build a mid-rise or 12-story academic building in many areas in the country.

He said that being a member of the basic education committee in Congress and his team’s persistence in budget meetings to address the shortage of classrooms in Cebu City.  Rama stressed the importance of moving forward with building schools in urbanized cities and the groundwork they prepared in coordination with the Cebu City Government and other agencies, including DPM was crucial for securing the project.

Rama revealed that initially, his office endorsed three schools in South District which met the criteria set by the Department of Education, including Don Sergio Osmeña Sr. Memorial National High School in Barangay Labangon and San Nicolas Elementary School in Barangay Duljo-Fatima.

"Following several inspections last year, DepEd and DPWH assessed that DVRMNHS met the criteria for the medium-rise academic school building.  The criteria for choosing the site was based on population data and the presence of many alumni in the area and the neighboring mountain barangays. I hope the funding will not be a multi-year project. We are readiness to begin the construction in March this year once the budget is available,” Rama added.

Based on the 2023-2024 enrollment of DVRMNHS, it has a total of 4,878 enrollees for the school year. Most of the learners are from Basak San Nicolas, Basak Pardo, and Quiot Pardo, Rama revealed.

The construction of the midrise academic school building will accommodate around 5,000 additional learners in specialized programs for both junior and senior high school and it will also provide additional instructional laboratories and other learning facilities for students.

Rama is optimistic that the mid-rise school building will definitely address the classroom shortages and hopefully put an end to classroom shifting, that students are currently experiencing.

“As much as possible we want our students to be in the best environment to learn, and that is one of this administration’s main objectives for education, he said.

According to DepEd data, Central Visayas is among the top regions in the country with the highest classroom shortages.  The 12-storey building will be constructed at the site of the current hearing-impaired building and 1-storey 2-classroom building within DVRMNHS's 14,447-square-meter campus area.

The inauguration ceremony included the signing of the memorandum of agreement among various national and local government agencies and the laying of the time capsule which was attended by Cebu City 2nd (South) District Representative Congressman Edu Rama, Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bonoan, DPWH Regional Director RD Danilo Villa, Jr., DPWH Cebu City District Engineer Manolo Madronio, DepEd Regional Director RD Salustiano Jimenez, DepEd Cebu City SDS Nimfa Bonggo and a hosts of local officials. (Photos: MBCNewman)