Thousands of students from four public schools in Benguet are now excitedly looking forward to the opening of classes in June after the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) formally turned over a total of 72 classrooms to their schools last May 4 and 5, 2017.

Among the recipients of PAGCOR’s school building project were Baguio City National Science High School (BCNSHS) in Irisan, Baguio City which received a four-storey, 32- classroom building; Benguet National High School (BeNHS) – Alno Annex and Alno-Kadoorie Elementary School in La Trinidad which got a four-storey, 20-classroom building; and Tublay School of Home Industries (TSHI) in Tublay which received a four-storey, 20-classroom building.

PAGCOR’s Assistant Vice President for Community Relations and Services Arnell Ignacio, who graced the turnover ceremonies said the classroom donation is timely because a few weeks from now, the new school year will start. “PAGCOR has been helping the education sector by building safe and comfortable classrooms for our public school students. We are glad that as classes open this year, thousands of students here in Benguet province will have new classrooms to use,” he said.

The Grade 7 students of BCNSHS are among the occupants of the multi-storey PAGCOR building. Prior to its completion, they used to occupy some classrooms in Pines City National High School and Baguio City High School, said BCNSHS Principal Edward Vicente.

“Nagsisiksikan sila doon. But with the new four-storey, 32-classroom building from PAGCOR, our students from the Junior Science class will all be in one building. We can also accept more enrollees in the coming years,” he said.

BCNSHS is the newest public secondary school in Baguio City. It was established to address congestion problems as enrollment surged with the implementation of the K-12 Program. Apparently, even with the establishment of the new science high school, the problem on classroom shortage was not immediately addressed.

With the new PAGCOR building, Vicente said that their goal to make BCNSHS the best senior high school in the country – by providing a competitive Junior High School Science Program – is within reach.

Aside from BCNSHS, PAGCOR also built a four-storey, 20-classroom structure at BeNHS-Alno Annex. The building will be shared by BeNHS students and the elementary students of Alno-Kadoorie Elementary School.

BeNHS-Annex was established in 2004 to address the increasing illiteracy rate among the youth in the remote flower farm in Alno, La Trinidad. Prior to the donation of PAGCOR buildings, the school only had six classrooms for its 300 students. Some of the classrooms had to be divided into two to fit in two classes simultaneously.

BeNHS-Annex’s incoming Grade 10 student Jhazel Villena, 15 was one of the students who experienced sharing a single classroom with another section instantaneously. But while she had gotten used to such situation, she believes that her learning experience will further improve if their school is equipped with comfortable classrooms.

A daughter of cut-flower farmers, Jhazel dreams of becoming a lawyer someday to help her neighbors and relatives solve their disputes over land. But her dreams will only come into fruition through good education.

“Kaya naman po isang malaking opportunity para sa aming eskwelahan at sa mga estudyanteng kagaya ko ang magkaroon ng bagong school building dito sa BeNHS-Annex. Bukod sa mas maayos at komportable ito, mas marami pang estudyane na mae-encourage na pumasok dito,” she said.

Meanwhile, another recipient of the recent school building turnover in Benguet was the 46-year-old TSHI. The four-storey, 20-classroom building that it received from PAGCOR will be used by close to 2,000 technical-vocational students whose old classrooms were burned years ago.

“PAGCOR came in our time of great need. The structure that they built was the answer to our prayers. Now, our students can focus more on their studies,” said THIS Principal Georgina Ducayso.

Benguet Lone District Representative Ronald Cosalan, who graced the turnover of classrooms in Benguet said the focus of the local government is to bring the schools closer to the people – especially to those from far-flung areas in the province.

“With PAGCOR’s school building program, our students will have more chances to improve their lives. Once they graduate from these schools, they will have the same chance to build a better future – like those who graduate from schools in Manila,” Cosalan said.

To date, PAGCOR has completed a total of 79 classrooms in six sites in the Cordillera Administrative Region. Apart from this, 82 more classrooms in seven sites are under construction.

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