# Classroom Shortage in BARMM, 2023–2026: Highest Rate

BARMM lacked 11,064 classrooms in 2023, 14.3 per 1,000 learners, the highest rate of any region, and SBP 2026 classrooms cover 1.8% of that shortage.

This is the Markdown copy of [Classroom Shortage in BARMM, 2023–2026: Highest Rate](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-barmm), an article on the NASH Reviewer Blog by Mark Anthony Llego, published Oct 28, 2026, updated Nov 4, 2026. Topics: DepEd data, School resources. NASH Reviewer is an independent practice platform not affiliated with DepEd, BHROD, or NEAP.

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) lacked 11,064 classrooms in 2023, according to DepEd's classroom shortage data as published in the EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard. That is 6.7% of the country's shortage of 165,443 classrooms, the fourth largest of the 18 regions. Measured against learners, BARMM has the highest rate of any region: it is short 14.3 classrooms for every 1,000 learners enrolled in SY 2024-25, 1.9 times the national rate of 7.4.

The need is wide rather than concentrated in a few schools. Of BARMM's public schools, 87.0% have a shortage, against 54.2% nationally, and all 10 of its divisions are above the national rate, led by Tawi-Tawi at 24.2, the highest of any division in the country. The School Building Program (SBP) 2026 lists 197 classrooms for the region, 1.8% of its shortage, the lowest coverage of any region, against 19.6% nationally. Classrooms are crowded rather than shared in shifts: the median elementary school has 44.9 learners per classroom, against 24.9 nationally, while only 1.1% of schools hold classes in two or more shifts.

Sulu is not in these figures. Its schools division moved from MBHTE-BARMM, the Bangsamoro Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education, to DepEd Region IX on 20 October 2026 ([DepEd](https://www.deped.gov.ph/2026/10/20/pbbm-angara-inilunsad-ang-yakap-health-caravan-suporta-sa-mga-paaralan-sa-sulu-tiniyak/); [Daily Tribune](https://tribune.net.ph/2026/10/20/sulu-schools-division-formally-shifts-to-deped-region-ix)), so it is counted in Region IX, while the EDCOM II dashboard still shows Sulu's 2,173 classrooms of shortage under BARMM. The figures below, from the cleaned school-level data behind the dashboard, cover the rest of the region, from Lanao del Sur and the two Maguindanao provinces to Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and the Special Geographic Area. Every file is listed on the [EDCOM II classroom data page](https://nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data).

## Key findings

- BARMM is short 14.3 classrooms per 1,000 learners, the highest rate of the 18 regions and 1.9 times the national 7.4, with a 2023 shortage of 11,064 classrooms.
- 1,870 of its 2,150 public schools (87.0%) have a shortage, against 54.2% nationally, and all 10 divisions are above the national rate, from Cotabato City at 8.0 to Tawi-Tawi at 24.2.
- The SBP 2026 list holds 197 classrooms for BARMM, 1.8% of its shortage and the lowest coverage of any region, and only 43 of its schools with a shortage (2.3%) get any.
- The Basilan division and the Special Geographic Area Division, short 970 and 502 classrooms, have no SBP 2026 classroom, and none of the 10 schools with the largest shortages is on the list.
- 84 of the region's 108 cities and municipalities have a shortage but no 2026 classroom, 7,550 classrooms between them.
- The median elementary school has 44.9 learners per classroom, against 24.9 nationally, and 823 schools have more than 50, yet only 1.1% of schools hold classes in shifts.
- 907 schools (42.3%) use makeshift rooms, against 29.0% nationally.

## BARMM against the country

The table sets the region beside the country, using the same definition for both columns in each row.

| Indicator                                               |   BARMM |   Philippines |
|:--------------------------------------------------------|--------:|--------------:|
| Schools in the 2023 shortage data                       |   2,150 |        47,659 |
| Schools with a classroom shortage                       |   87.0% |         54.2% |
| Classroom shortage (2023)                               |  11,064 |       165,443 |
| Shortage per 1,000 learners                             |    14.3 |           7.4 |
| SBP 2026 classrooms                                     |     197 |        32,419 |
| SBP 2026 classrooms as a share of the shortage          |    1.8% |         19.6% |
| Schools with a shortage that get any SBP 2026 classroom |    2.3% |         13.3% |
| Schools with two or more shifts (SY 2024-25)            |    1.1% |          4.3% |
| Median learners per classroom, elementary               |    44.9 |          24.9 |
| Last Mile Schools                                       |    0.9% |         18.5% |
| Schools using makeshift rooms (2023)                    |   42.3% |         29.0% |
| Schools with a building for condemnation or demolition  |   15.1% |         28.9% |

BARMM is furthest from the country on three rows: the share of the shortage on the 2026 list (1.8% against 19.6%), the share of schools with a shortage that get any classroom (2.3% against 13.3%), and crowding in elementary classrooms (44.9 learners against 24.9). It is below the national figures on two: buildings for condemnation or demolition (15.1% against 28.9%) and Last Mile Schools, which the data flag at 0.9% of its schools.

Nearly all of the shortage is in Kindergarten to Grade 10, 10,601 classrooms; senior high school accounts for 463 (4.2%). Rural schools are short 15.4 classrooms per 1,000 learners and urban schools 11.4, both far above the national 7.4, and the 1,865 rural schools carry 78.4% of the shortage. Nationally the pattern runs the other way, 8.4 in urban schools against 6.1 in rural ones. Spare rooms are rare: only 145 schools report more Kindergarten to Grade 10 classrooms than they need, 356 in all.

## Classroom shortage by division in BARMM

BARMM has 10 schools divisions: six provincial divisions (Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, two in Lanao del Sur and two in Maguindanao), the Special Geographic Area Division, and the city divisions of Marawi, Lamitan and Cotabato. The chart ranks them by the shortage per 1,000 learners.

![Horizontal bar chart of the 2023 classroom shortage per 1,000 learners in BARMM's 10 divisions, all above the national 7.4 line. Tawi-Tawi is highest at 24.2 (1,952 classrooms) and Basilan next at 17.3 (970); Lanao del Sur - II, Maguindanao I, Lanao del Sur - I, the Special Geographic Area Division and Maguindanao II sit between 12.7 and 14.1, near the regional 14.3 line, and Cotabato City is lowest at 8.0 (415).](https://nash.com.ph/blog/_astro/classroom-shortage-barmm-divisions.DFTJ26db_Z5io3u.webp)

*Figure 1. Classroom shortage per 1,000 learners by division, BARMM, 2023 shortage and SY 2024-25 learners. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. [Download the full-resolution chart (PNG)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/classroom-shortage-barmm-divisions.png).*

Every bar crosses the national line. Tawi-Tawi, at 24.2, is short more classrooms per learner than any other division in the country, and Basilan follows at 17.3. Five divisions sit in a band from 12.7 to 14.1, close to the regional 14.3: the two Lanao del Sur divisions, the two Maguindanao divisions and the Special Geographic Area Division. The three city divisions are lowest, Marawi City at 11.5, Lamitan City at 9.8 and Cotabato City at 8.0, and even Cotabato City is above the national rate.

By count, Tawi-Tawi and Maguindanao I are almost level, short 1,952 and 1,937 classrooms; Tawi-Tawi's 17.6% is the largest share of the region's shortage. The other Lanao del Sur and Maguindanao divisions are each short between 1,506 and 1,705.

| Division                         |   Schools |   Learners (SY 2024-25) |   Classroom shortage (2023) |   Shortage per 1,000 learners |   Schools with a shortage |   SBP 2026 classrooms |   Coverage |
|:---------------------------------|----------:|------------------------:|----------------------------:|------------------------------:|--------------------------:|----------------------:|-----------:|
| Tawi-Tawi                        |       262 |                  80,627 |                       1,952 |                          24.2 |                     95.4% |                    30 |       1.5% |
| Basilan                          |       176 |                  56,136 |                         970 |                          17.3 |                     90.3% |                     0 |       0.0% |
| Lanao del Sur - II               |       391 |                 106,507 |                       1,506 |                          14.1 |                     82.9% |                    29 |       1.9% |
| Maguindanao I                    |       330 |                 141,057 |                       1,937 |                          13.6 |                     90.0% |                    48 |       2.5% |
| Lanao del Sur - I                |       418 |                 125,620 |                       1,705 |                          13.5 |                     84.2% |                    39 |       2.3% |
| Special Geographic Area Division |       111 |                  38,302 |                         502 |                          13.1 |                     86.5% |                     0 |       0.0% |
| Maguindanao II                   |       314 |                 123,281 |                       1,579 |                          12.7 |                     86.6% |                    16 |       1.0% |
| Marawi City                      |        50 |                  24,342 |                         280 |                          11.5 |                     88.0% |                     8 |       2.9% |
| Lamitan City                     |        55 |                  22,216 |                         218 |                           9.8 |                     76.4% |                    12 |       5.5% |
| Cotabato City                    |        43 |                  52,006 |                         415 |                           8.0 |                     79.1% |                    11 |       2.6% |

In Tawi-Tawi, 95.4% of schools have a shortage; even in Lamitan City, the lowest, 76.4% do. Coverage runs from 0.0% in Basilan and the Special Geographic Area Division, which have no SBP 2026 classroom, to 5.5% in Lamitan City. The division totals leave out four SBP classrooms at one school in the City of Marawi that has no division in the data; the regional totals include them.

## Provinces and cities: Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao del Sur, Basilan and the SGA

The Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) places BARMM's schools in five provinces and the Special Geographic Area (SGA), the eight BARMM municipalities formed from barangays in Cotabato province, which appears here as a province-level unit. The region's three cities are counted inside provinces: Marawi in Lanao del Sur, Lamitan in Basilan, and Cotabato City in Maguindanao del Norte. In these data, the Maguindanao I division's schools are those of Maguindanao del Sur, and Maguindanao II's are those of Maguindanao del Norte outside Cotabato City.

| Province or city              |   Cities and municipalities |   Schools |   Classroom shortage (2023) |   Shortage per 1,000 learners |   SBP 2026 classrooms |   Coverage |
|:------------------------------|----------------------------:|----------:|----------------------------:|------------------------------:|----------------------:|-----------:|
| Lanao del Sur                 |                          40 |       859 |                       3,491 |                          13.6 |                    80 |       2.3% |
| Maguindanao del Norte         |                          13 |       357 |                       1,994 |                          11.3 |                    27 |       1.4% |
| Tawi-Tawi                     |                          11 |       262 |                       1,952 |                          24.2 |                    30 |       1.5% |
| Maguindanao del Sur           |                          24 |       330 |                       1,937 |                          13.6 |                    48 |       2.5% |
| Basilan                       |                          12 |       231 |                       1,188 |                          15.2 |                    12 |       1.0% |
| Special Geographic Area (SGA) |                           8 |       111 |                         502 |                          13.1 |                     0 |       0.0% |

Lanao del Sur, with Marawi, holds the largest part of the shortage, 3,491 classrooms or 31.6% of the region's, and its 80 classrooms on the 2026 list cover 2.3% of it. Tawi-Tawi has the highest rate, 24.2, and Basilan, with Lamitan counted in, the second highest, 15.2. All 12 of Basilan's SBP classrooms are in Lamitan City; the Basilan division has none. The SGA's eight municipalities, short 502 classrooms, have none either.

Among the region's 108 cities and municipalities, Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi, has the largest shortage, 544 classrooms, with eight on the list:

| City or municipality   | Province or city      | Income class   |   Schools |   Classroom shortage (2023) |   SBP 2026 classrooms |   Coverage |
|:-----------------------|:----------------------|:---------------|----------:|----------------------------:|----------------------:|-----------:|
| Bongao                 | Tawi-Tawi             | 1st            |        62 |                         544 |                     8 |       1.5% |
| City of Cotabato       | Maguindanao del Norte | 1st            |        45 |                         415 |                    11 |       2.6% |
| Datu Odin Sinsuat      | Maguindanao del Norte | 1st            |        49 |                         363 |                     0 |       0.0% |
| South Upi              | Maguindanao del Sur   | 2nd            |        43 |                         290 |                     0 |       0.0% |
| Panglima Sugala        | Tawi-Tawi             | 1st            |        34 |                         287 |                     0 |       0.0% |
| City of Marawi         | Lanao del Sur         | 3rd            |        52 |                         280 |                    12 |       4.3% |
| Upi                    | Maguindanao del Norte | 1st            |        43 |                         260 |                     0 |       0.0% |
| Sultan Kudarat         | Maguindanao del Norte | 1st            |        35 |                         229 |                    14 |       6.1% |
| City of Lamitan        | Basilan               | 3rd            |        56 |                         218 |                    12 |       5.5% |
| Maluso                 | Basilan               | 2nd            |        19 |                         209 |                     0 |       0.0% |

Five of the 10, Datu Odin Sinsuat, South Upi, Panglima Sugala, Upi and Maluso, have no SBP 2026 classroom. Datu Odin Sinsuat in Maguindanao del Norte, short 363, is the largest of the 84 cities and municipalities that have a shortage and nothing on the list, 7,550 classrooms between them. No city or municipality in BARMM receives more than its shortage. The city figures follow the PSGC and the SBP masterlist's own municipality, so the City of Marawi has 12 SBP classrooms and the Marawi City division eight; the other four are at the school with no division.

The national report on [Classroom Allocation by LGU Income Class, 2026](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-allocation-lgu-income-class) found that only 21 of BARMM's 97 municipalities (21.6%, not counting the SGA, whose municipalities have no income class) received any SBP 2026 classroom, and none of its four fifth-class municipalities. EDCOM II's 20 October 2026 news release reported that of the 66 fifth-class municipalities in the country, 30 received no allocation despite a combined shortage of 356 classrooms, and that six of them are in BARMM: Hadji Muhammad in Basilan, Lumbaca-Unayan and Sultan Dumalondong in Lanao del Sur, and Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi, which together have a shortage of 163 classrooms, as well as the Special Geographic Area municipalities of Old Kaabakan and Pahamuddin.

## Schools with the largest classroom shortages in BARMM

Eight of the 10 schools with the largest shortages are national high schools, and none of the 10 is on the SBP 2026 list. Together they are short 465 classrooms, only 4.2% of the region's shortage, because the need is spread over so many schools.

|   School ID | School                            | Division          | City or municipality   |   Learners (SY 2024-25) | Learners per classroom   |   Classroom shortage (2023) |   SBP 2026 classrooms | Two or more shifts   |
|------------:|:----------------------------------|:------------------|:-----------------------|------------------------:|:-------------------------|----------------------------:|----------------------:|:---------------------|
|      304630 | Cotabato City NHS - Main          | Cotabato City     | City of Cotabato       |                   5,720 | 85.4                     |                          98 |                     0 | No                   |
|      304954 | Tipo-Tipo NHS                     | Basilan           | Tipo-Tipo              |                   2,269 | Not given                |                          68 |                     0 | No                   |
|      304943 | Maluso NHS                        | Basilan           | Maluso                 |                   3,131 | 78.3                     |                          47 |                     0 | Yes                  |
|      326503 | Datu Mantato National High School | Maguindanao II    | Datu Odin Sinsuat      |                   2,416 | Not given                |                          45 |                     0 | No                   |
|      305004 | Datu Paglas NHS                   | Maguindanao I     | Datu Paglas            |                   2,825 | Not given                |                          37 |                     0 | No                   |
|      134767 | Lupa Pula Pilot Elem. School      | Tawi-Tawi         | Mapun                  |                   1,222 | 50.9                     |                          35 |                     0 | No                   |
|      304958 | Balindong NHS                     | Lanao del Sur - I | Balindong              |                   1,895 | 90.2                     |                          34 |                     0 | No                   |
|      305053 | Batu-Batu NHS                     | Tawi-Tawi         | Panglima Sugala        |                   1,555 | 53.6                     |                          34 |                     0 | No                   |
|      501266 | Tabawan Integrated School         | Tawi-Tawi         | South Ubian            |                   1,117 | 74.5                     |                          34 |                     0 | No                   |
|      318326 | Nuling National High School       | Maguindanao II    | Sultan Kudarat         |                   1,821 | 364.2                    |                          33 |                     0 | No                   |

Cotabato City NHS - Main has the region's largest shortage, 98 classrooms, for 5,720 learners, 85.4 per classroom. Three of the 10, Tipo-Tipo NHS, Datu Mantato National High School and Datu Paglas NHS, have no learners-per-classroom figure because no instructional classroom is recorded for them in the 2023 data, and Nuling National High School's 364.2 rests on very few recorded rooms; these are records worth checking. Only Maluso NHS holds classes in shifts. Nuling National High School shares 10th place with Port Holland CES, also short 33; ties are broken by enrollment.

The shortage is spread more evenly than in the country. The 215 schools with the largest shortages, the top 10% of the region's schools, hold 33.6% of it, against 66.0% nationally, and half of it is spread over 420 schools (19.5%), against 4.7% of schools nationally. The 272 schools short by 10 or more classrooms hold 38.7%, and among schools with a shortage the median is 5.0 classrooms, against 3.0 nationally. [Philippine Classroom Shortage 2023: Where the Gap Is](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-philippines-2023) explains these measures.

## SBP 2026 classrooms in BARMM

The SBP 2026 list has 48 lines for BARMM, 197 classrooms at 48 schools, all funded under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) 2026 with PHP 0.69 billion. That is 0.6% of the national list, for a region with 6.7% of the national shortage. The chart sets each division's 2023 shortage beside its 2026 classrooms.

![Paired horizontal bars of the 2023 classroom shortage and SBP 2026 classrooms in BARMM's 10 divisions. Tawi-Tawi has 1,952 classrooms of shortage and 30 on the list, Maguindanao I 1,937 and 48, Lanao del Sur - I 1,705 and 39, Maguindanao II 1,579 and 16, and Lanao del Sur - II 1,506 and 29; Basilan (970) and the Special Geographic Area Division (502) have none.](https://nash.com.ph/blog/_astro/classroom-shortage-barmm-sbp-2026.Bkxvg8jd_Z2pbaHT.webp)

*Figure 2. 2023 classroom shortage and SBP 2026 classrooms by division, BARMM. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. [Download the full-resolution chart (PNG)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/classroom-shortage-barmm-sbp-2026.png).*

Beside each blue bar, the orange one barely shows. Maguindanao I has the most classrooms on the list, 48 against 1,937 short; Tawi-Tawi, with the largest shortage, has 30. Basilan and the Special Geographic Area Division have no orange bar at all.

| Modality group   |   Lines |   Schools |   Classrooms |   Share of the region's SBP classrooms |
|:-----------------|--------:|----------:|-------------:|---------------------------------------:|
| DPWH             |      20 |        20 |           96 |                                  48.7% |
| LGU              |      28 |        28 |          101 |                                  51.3% |
| DepEd            |       0 |         0 |            0 |                                   0.0% |
| PSIP III (PPP)   |       0 |         0 |            0 |                                   0.0% |

Only two modality groups reach BARMM: local governments implement 101 classrooms (51.3%) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 96 (48.7%). The region has no DepEd-implemented line, so no Learning Continuity Spaces or Last Mile School buildings, and no PSIP III line, while nationally half of the list, 16,305 classrooms, is PSIP III. [DepEd School Building Program 2026 in Numbers](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-school-building-program-2026) explains the modalities.

EDCOM II's 13 November 2025 news release on education laws in BARMM noted that the Bangsamoro Organic Law (RA 11054), Article VI, Section 13, says national programs and projects such as the School Building Program "shall continue to be funded by the National Government", and reported that some national programs pulled back from BARMM after the law because of unclear interpretation. These data show how many classrooms are listed, not why. [Education in the Bangsamoro](https://nash.com.ph/blog/bangsamoro-education-barmm-edcom-ii) covers EDCOM II's findings on how education in BARMM is governed and financed, and what it recommends.

What is listed lands mostly where the shortage is. Of the region's 2026 classrooms, 145 (73.4%) fall within the receiving school's own 2023 shortage, against 53.0% nationally, and only 10 (5.1%) go to schools with no 2023 shortage, against 23.0%. But only 43 of the 1,870 schools with a shortage (2.3%) receive any, and 12 of the 213 schools short by more than 10 (5.6%). Counted this way, the list meets 1.3% of the region's shortage and leaves 10,919 classrooms unmet. [Do 2026 Classrooms Go Where the Shortage Is?](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-allocation-vs-shortage-2026) explains the method.

## Class shifts and crowded classrooms in BARMM

Shifts are rare in BARMM. In SY 2024-25, 23 of the region's 2,169 schools in the enrollment data (1.1%) held classes in two or more shifts, none in three, with 17,116 learners, 2.2% of the region's total. All 23 had a 2023 shortage (100.0%), and one of them receives SBP 2026 classrooms.

Crowding is the larger story. The median school has 44.9 learners per classroom in elementary, 48.8 in junior high and 47.9 in senior high, against 24.9, 32.1 and 30.6 nationally. In all, 823 schools have more than 50 learners per classroom, and they hold 48.6% of the learners counted, against 26.2% nationally; bringing each down to 50 would take at least 2,572 classrooms. [Class Shifts and Crowded Classrooms in DepEd Schools](https://nash.com.ph/blog/class-shifting-crowded-classrooms) explains the measure.

The 2023 facilities data show more makeshift rooms and fewer condemned buildings than the country: 907 schools (42.3%) use makeshift rooms, against 29.0% nationally, while 323 (15.1%) report a building for condemnation or demolition, 522 buildings in all, about half the national share of 28.9%.

## Last Mile Schools in BARMM

The data flag only 20 of BARMM's schools (0.9%) as Last Mile Schools, schools in geographically isolated, disadvantaged and conflict-affected areas and hardship posts, against 18.5% nationally; among the regions, only NCR has a smaller share. The flag is DepEd's. The 20 hold 94 classrooms of shortage, 0.8% of the region's, and 90.0% of them have a shortage, against 86.9% of the region's other schools.

None of them receives an SBP 2026 classroom, against 2.2% of the region's other schools, so all 18 with a shortage, 94 classrooms in all, have none, and DepEd's Last Mile School modality has no line in the region. [Last Mile Schools: Classroom Need and 2026 Allocation](https://nash.com.ph/blog/last-mile-schools-classroom-shortage) compares them nationally.

## What this means for school heads in BARMM

Most of BARMM's schools have a shortage, so a school's case stands out by its detail: how crowded its rooms are, what its learners use for classrooms, and whether its record is complete.

- **Lead with learners per classroom.** With a median of 44.9 learners per elementary classroom and 823 schools above 50, crowding is the region's clearest measure; cite your own figure beside your division's rate per 1,000 learners.
- **Document makeshift rooms.** 42.3% of the region's schools use them. Record how many classes meet in them, with the 2023 facilities count as the baseline, so the need shows in more than one number.
- **Check your school's record.** Three of the 10 schools with the largest shortages have no instructional classroom in the 2023 data. If your school's rooms, enrollment or ID look wrong, raise it with your MBHTE schools division office before the data are used for planning.
- **Know who builds.** BARMM's 2026 classrooms come only through LGU and DPWH lines, so the municipal or provincial government and the DPWH district engineering office are partners in any request, beside the division.
- **Put the numbers in the SIP and the AIP.** Cite the shortage, enrollment and learners per classroom with their years and sources in the [school improvement plan](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-school-improvement-plan), and track any SBP lines in the annual implementation plan.
- **Find your school in the data.** Look up your school ID in the school table to see your 2023 shortage, learners per classroom and any SBP 2026 lines; the [EDCOM II classroom data page](https://nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data) links every file.

## How these numbers were made

The data are the cleaned tables behind the EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard: DepEd's 2023 classroom shortage by school, the SBP 2026 masterlist, SY 2024-25 enrollment and class shifts from the Basic Education Information System (BEIS), 2023 school facilities, and school coordinates from the National School Building Inventory (NSBI) for SY 2022-23. [How the EDCOM Classroom Data Was Cleaned](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-classroom-data-cleaned) documents every table and cleaning rule.

A school's shortage is DepEd's 2023 figure for Kindergarten to Grade 10 plus senior high school, counted only where the school lacks classrooms. The shortage per 1,000 learners divides the shortage of schools with SY 2024-25 learners by those learners and multiplies by 1,000. Learners per classroom divide SY 2024-25 learners by 2023 instructional classrooms, so a school with no instructional classroom recorded has no figure. Coverage is SBP 2026 classrooms divided by the 2023 shortage. Classrooms within a school's shortage are counted up to the size of that shortage. Regions, provinces and municipalities follow the PSGC, with the Special Geographic Area as a province-level unit; divisions are the schools divisions as named in DepEd's files.

The analysis was done in Python with pandas, and the charts drawn with Matplotlib.

## Limits

The sources span several years: the shortage and facilities are from 2023, enrollment and shifts from SY 2024-25, and the allocations from 2026, so a school's figures may have changed since. The SBP list shows planned classrooms, not finished ones. The shortage is DepEd's own estimate, and new, merged or renumbered schools may be missing or counted under a new ID; some BARMM schools have no instructional classrooms recorded, which leaves their crowding unmeasured. The Last Mile flag marks very few BARMM schools, so comparisons that use it rest on 20 schools. Division totals of SBP classrooms leave out the one school with no division in the data. These are descriptive figures: they show where the shortage and the 2026 classrooms are, not why.

## Frequently asked questions

### How big is the classroom shortage in BARMM?

DepEd's 2023 data put BARMM's classroom shortage at 11,064 classrooms, 6.7% of the national shortage of 165,443. That is 14.3 classrooms per 1,000 learners, the highest of any region and 1.9 times the national 7.4, and 87.0% of the region's public schools have a shortage.

### Which division in BARMM has the biggest classroom shortage?

Tawi-Tawi, by both count and rate: 1,952 classrooms, 17.6% of the region's shortage, and 24.2 classrooms per 1,000 learners, the highest of any division in the country. Maguindanao I is close behind by count, with 1,937.

### How many classrooms will BARMM get under the SBP 2026?

The SBP 2026 masterlist has 197 classrooms for BARMM on 48 lines at 48 schools, funded under the GAA 2026 with PHP 0.69 billion. They equal 1.8% of the region's 2023 shortage, against 19.6% nationally, and the Basilan division and the Special Geographic Area Division have none. The list is a plan; it does not mean the classrooms are built.

### Why are so few SBP 2026 classrooms listed for BARMM?

These data do not say. They show 197 classrooms, all through LGU and DPWH lines, and 84 cities and municipalities with a shortage and none. EDCOM II has noted that under the Bangsamoro Organic Law, national programs such as the School Building Program "shall continue to be funded by the National Government", and reported that some national programs pulled back from BARMM after the law because of unclear interpretation.

## Download the data and cite this post

The cleaned EDCOM II classroom data behind this series are free to download for personal study; to reuse them, email [support@nash.com.ph](mailto:support@nash.com.ph) for written permission first. [How the EDCOM Classroom Data Was Cleaned](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-classroom-data-cleaned) explains every table and cleaning rule. The files are at data.nash.com.ph: start with the [README](https://data.nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data/v1.1/README.md), then the [school table](https://data.nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data/v1.1/schools.parquet) (Parquet, or [CSV](https://data.nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data/v1.1/schools.csv.gz)), the [School Building Program lines](https://data.nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data/v1.1/sbp_projects.csv.gz) (CSV), the [city and municipality table](https://data.nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data/v1.1/lgu_summary.csv.gz) (CSV), and every table for [Stata](https://data.nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data/v1.1/classroom_tables_stata.zip) and [SPSS](https://data.nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data/v1.1/classroom_tables_spss.zip). Every regional figure in this report can be computed from the school table, filtered to BARMM by `deped_region`.

Every file, with its rows, columns and checksum, is listed on the [EDCOM II classroom data page](https://nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data). To cite the data: Llego, M. A. (2026). *EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard data, cleaned, version 1.1*. NASH Reviewer. https://nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data

To cite this post: Llego, M. A. (2026, October 28). *Classroom shortage in BARMM, 2023–2026: Highest rate*. NASH Reviewer Blog. https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-barmm

## References

- Llego, M. A. (2026). *EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard data, cleaned, version 1.1* [Data set]. NASH Reviewer. https://nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data
- Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II). (2025, November 13). *Clarity needed on the implementation of 23 national education laws in BARMM* [News release].
- Second Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM II). (2026, October 20). *Put classrooms where they're needed most, EDCOM 2 tells DepEd* [News release]. https://edcom2.gov.ph/put-classrooms-where-theyre-needed-most-edcom-2-tells-deped/

## More in this series

- [How the EDCOM Classroom Data Was Cleaned](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-classroom-data-cleaned)
- [Philippine Classroom Shortage 2023: Where the Gap Is](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-philippines-2023)
- [DepEd School Building Program 2026 in Numbers](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-school-building-program-2026)
- [Do 2026 Classrooms Go Where the Shortage Is?](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-allocation-vs-shortage-2026)
- [Classroom Allocation by LGU Income Class, 2026](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-allocation-lgu-income-class)
- [Class Shifts and Crowded Classrooms in DepEd Schools](https://nash.com.ph/blog/class-shifting-crowded-classrooms)
- [Last Mile Schools: Classroom Need and 2026 Allocation](https://nash.com.ph/blog/last-mile-schools-classroom-shortage)
- Regional reports: [NCR](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-ncr), [CAR](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-car), [Region I](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-1-ilocos), [Region II](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-2-cagayan-valley), [Region III](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-3-central-luzon), [Region IV-A](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-4a-calabarzon), [MIMAROPA](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-mimaropa), [Region V](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-5-bicol), [Region VI](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-6-western-visayas), [NIR](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-negros-island-region), [Region VII](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-7-central-visayas), [Region VIII](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-8-eastern-visayas), [Region IX](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-9-zamboanga-peninsula), [Region X](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-10-northern-mindanao), [Region XI](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-11-davao), [Region XII](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-12-soccsksargen), [Caraga](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-13-caraga), [BARMM](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-barmm)
- Rankings and deep dives: [Congressional districts](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-by-congressional-district), [Top 20 cities and municipalities](https://nash.com.ph/blog/cities-municipalities-largest-classroom-shortage), [Rizal](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-rizal), [Quezon City](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-quezon-city), [City of Manila](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-manila), [Tawi-Tawi](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-tawi-tawi), [Cavite](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-cavite), [Cost of a classroom](https://nash.com.ph/blog/cost-to-build-classroom-philippines)
- Explainers: [PSIP III](https://nash.com.ph/blog/psip-iii-classrooms-explained), [Senior high shortage](https://nash.com.ph/blog/senior-high-school-classroom-shortage), [Junior high shortage](https://nash.com.ph/blog/junior-high-school-classroom-shortage), [Excess classrooms](https://nash.com.ph/blog/schools-with-more-classrooms-than-needed), [Learning Continuity Spaces](https://nash.com.ph/blog/learning-continuity-spaces-sbp-2026), [How learners reach school](https://nash.com.ph/blog/how-learners-reach-public-high-schools)
- For teachers and school heads: [Action research and thesis topics](https://nash.com.ph/blog/action-research-topics-classroom-shortage)
- Related: [CRLA Results SY 2025-26 in BARMM: Where Need Is Greatest](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-barmm), [DepEd Classroom and School Building Data, SY 2023-2024](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-classroom-school-building-data-sy-2023-2024), [DepEd School Improvement Plan (SIP): Steps, AIP and SRC](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-school-improvement-plan), [How to Read DepEd Data: A Guide for Aspiring School Heads](https://nash.com.ph/blog/how-to-read-deped-data)

*Analysis and charts by Mark Anthony Llego for NASH Reviewer. Data: EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard and Department of Education data. NASH Reviewer is not affiliated with EDCOM II or DepEd. Charts may be reused only with written permission from support@nash.com.ph.*

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© 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. All rights reserved. You may quote up to 100 words from this article with the author's name, its title and a link. In research, cite it as: Llego, M. A. (2026, October 28). *Classroom Shortage in BARMM, 2023–2026: Highest Rate*. NASH Reviewer. https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-barmm. Any other reuse of the article, its charts or its data needs written permission: email support@nash.com.ph. Terms of Service: https://nash.com.ph/terms#website-content-and-data