At least 2,179 new school buildings nationwide were constructed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in time for the opening of classes this June.

Public Works Secretary Victor Domingo said the agency has finished 95.7 percent of the entire school building projects worth P1.8 billion while the rest are still subject for completion by next month.

"The remaining 63 projects are ongoing and we have already instructed the regional and district engineers to assure that these school building projects will be completed before the formal opening of classes this June," Domingo said.

Under the Department of Education (DepEd) school building program, the DPWH needs to complete the construction of a total of 2,242 school buildings for this year.

Among the 13 regions, Western Visayas has the largest number of school building projects with 215, followed by Eastern Visayas (Region 8) which is tasked to construct 208 school buildings, and Southern Tagalog, 173.

In Cagayan Valley, there were 141 school building projects, 30 of them in Isabela, were already reportedly completed by DPWH. (Raymund Antonio)