In the aim of reducing the student-to-classroom ratio in Valenzuela City, four new school buildings costing Php 52,836,042 were constructed by the City Government at different campuses through the Local School Board (LSB).

City Mayor Sherwin T. Gatchalian lead city officials, members of the Local School Board (LSB), officials from the DepEd-Valenzuela and members of various Parents and Teachers Associations (PTA) in the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the new facilities as part of the celebration of the 14^th City Charter Day Anniversary.

In a speech delivered before the audience, Mayor WIN bared plans to construct more school buildings throughout the City.  “We give our utmost priority to education because it is an essential tool in shaping our city’s future through youth who are well-equipped with knowledge and confidence to face the challenges ahead,” Mayor WIN said.

City Engineer’s Office Officer-in-Charge, Ms. Praceli S. Nelson said that the new school building will ease out student congestion in four primary school campuses, namely: the Coloong Elementary School, A. Deato Elementary School in Barangay Balangkas, A. Fernando Elementary School in Barangay Malanday and Rincon Elementary School.

Coloong Elementary School, with a current population of 884 students, was expanded with the construction of a 7-classroom, 1-storey building covering 684 square meters of floor space. It replaced the old decrepit one-storey wooden school building which was already idle for quite a time.

A 3-storey building with 12 classrooms was built in A. Deato Elementary School in Barangay Balangkas. The 1,370 square meter facility will help decongest the campus with a population of 884 students.

Another 3-storey, 12-classroom building was completed in A. Fernando Elementary School, Barangay Malanday.  With a larger floor area of 1,552.50 square meters, it will significantly augment the 2,143 student’s requirement for more space.

Rincon Elementary School, on the other hand, was expanded with the construction of a 2-storey building with five classrooms and a total floor area of 552 square meters. With a population of 778 that is expected to rise in the following years, the building was built with provisions for expansion.

DepEd-Valenzuela Schools Division Superintendent, Dr. Flordeliza R. Mayari praised the active support of Mayor WIN to the educational needs of Valenzuelanos. She noted that the surge in building school facilities resulted in the excellent performance of Valenzuelano elementary students who bagged the No. 1 spot in the National Achievement Test (NAT) for the National Capital Region (NCR) for the last two consecutive years.

“Our school building program cannot be pursued without the strong partnership with the Local Government. In fact, more schools are scheduled to be inaugurated next month and continuously the end of the year,” she said.

Anchored on “Good Education is Good Governance” stance, this wave of classroom construction part of the Local Chief Executive’s “WIN and Edukasyon” program, a multi-stakeholder partnership to improve the quality of education in the City.  One of the fundamental goals of the program is to reduce the student-to-classroom ratio to the ideal 45:1 for elementary schools and 50:1 for secondary school.