Nearly 10,000 of the 14,267 public classrooms targeted by the Department of Education (DepEd) from 2021 to 2025 were left unconstructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), according to a report by the Commission on Audit (COA).

Only 4,817 classrooms, or 34% of the total construction target, were completed during the five-year period.

The audit findings showed that the majority of the uncompleted classrooms were from the 2025 target.

“[W]herein only 99 out of the 5,298 targeted classrooms or just two percent were actually constructed,” state auditors said.

The DepEd has long faced a shortage of classrooms in public schools. To address the problem, the agency partnered with the DPWH, which took over part of the construction of school facilities.

In 2013, the construction of projects under the Basic Education Facilities Fund (BEFF) was officially transferred to the DPWH. Under a memorandum of agreement (MOA), the BEFF budget also falls under the DPWH’s purview.

The breakdown showed that the DPWH was able to complete most of its classroom construction targets in the earlier years, with delays becoming more pronounced in 2025.

In 2021, the agency built 40 of the 50 targeted classrooms. In 2022, the DPWH completed all 160 targeted classrooms.

In 2023, the DPWH constructed 1,703 of the 2,362 targeted classrooms. In 2024, it completed only 2,815 of the 6,397 targeted classrooms.

“Had both parties faithfully complied with the provisions of the MOA, the construction delays may have been significantly reduced. The untimely execution of the construction resulted [in] increased construction cost and consequently deprived the general public of timely access to educational facilities,” the COA report said.

The DPWH attributed the delays to spillover projects resulting from the agency’s compressed validation timeline, which requires a minimum six-month lead time, ongoing procurement activities, and the processing of Special Allotment Release Orders (SAROs), among other factors.

Although 4,408 classrooms were already undergoing site validation, state auditors said the lapses exposed the DPWH’s absorptive capacity, citing the agency’s difficulty in completing physical projects.

COA said 8,969 classrooms from previous years had been carried over and remained uncompleted.

“In the same manner, the spill over targets is indicative that construction timelines were not enforced and DepEd was not able to monitor project durations,” the audit report said.

The audit also identified site-related constraints as the predominant factors contributing to delays in school building construction. These included pending demolition and building permits, unresolved Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) clearances, and design revisions prompted by unforeseen site conditions, such as right-of-way issues and limited site accessibility.

COA, however, said these issues should have been addressed earlier, noting that they were recurring concerns that “ought to have been resolved years back,” as the program has been in place since 2012.

The DPWH, for its part, maintained that the unconstructed balance does not necessarily mean the projects were inactive or had failed.

The agency said some projects were still undergoing procurement, joint validation, or site-readiness compliance, while others were affected by delayed SARO issuance and DPWH concerns involving flood-control projects.

“[The DPWH] stated that the remaining balance largely reflects implementation timing and site readiness constraints rather than project abandonment. Majority of these projects remain active within the implementation pipeline,” the audit report said.