NIR (the Negros Island Region, sometimes searched as Region 18) lacked 4,579 classrooms in 2023, according to DepEd’s classroom shortage data as published in the EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard. That is 2.8% of the country’s shortage of 165,443 classrooms, the 13th largest of the 18 regions. Measured against learners, the region is short 4.2 classrooms for every 1,000 learners enrolled in SY 2024-25, well below the national rate of 7.4 and the fourth lowest among the regions. Fewer than half of its public schools, 48.8%, report any shortage.

The low regional rate hides two kinds of strain. The first is place: two city divisions of Negros Oriental, Guihulngan City and Canlaon City, are short more than 9 classrooms per 1,000 learners, over twice the regional rate and the only divisions in NIR above the national one. The second is remoteness: 39.9% of the region’s schools are Last Mile Schools, more than twice the national 18.5% and second only to CAR, and 36.7% use makeshift rooms. The School Building Program (SBP) 2026 lists 782 classrooms for NIR, 17.1% of its shortage, close to the national 19.6%, but a third of them go to schools that had no shortage in 2023.

The figures below cover NIR’s 21 schools divisions in Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Bacolod and Siquijor, from the cleaned school-level data behind the dashboard. Every file is listed on the EDCOM II classroom data page.

Key findings

  • NIR lacked 4,579 classrooms in 2023, 4.2 per 1,000 learners against 7.4 nationally, and 1,080 of its 2,211 public schools (48.8%) had a shortage, against 54.2% nationally.
  • Only two of the region’s 21 divisions are above the national rate, both in Negros Oriental: Guihulngan City at 9.2 classrooms per 1,000 learners and Canlaon City at 9.1.
  • Negros Occidental, with its component cities, holds 2,314 classrooms of shortage, 50.5% of the region’s, but Negros Oriental has the higher rate, 5.2 per 1,000 learners against 3.8.
  • 883 schools, 39.9% of the region’s, are Last Mile Schools, and they hold 34.8% of NIR’s shortage, against 9.2% for Last Mile Schools nationally.
  • The SBP 2026 list holds 782 classrooms for NIR, and 261 of them (33.4%) go to schools with no 2023 shortage, against 23.0% nationally.
  • Siquijor receives 41 classrooms for a shortage of 24, while Kabankalan City and Guihulngan City receive 5.6% of theirs.
  • 811 schools (36.7%) used makeshift rooms in 2023, against 29.0% nationally, though only 44 schools (2.0%) held classes in shifts in SY 2024-25.

NIR against the country

The table places NIR beside the national figures. Both columns use the same definitions.

Indicator NIR Philippines
Schools in the 2023 shortage data 2,211 47,659
Schools with a classroom shortage 48.8% 54.2%
Classroom shortage (2023) 4,579 165,443
Shortage per 1,000 learners 4.2 7.4
SBP 2026 classrooms 782 32,419
SBP 2026 classrooms as a share of the shortage 17.1% 19.6%
Schools with a shortage that get any SBP 2026 classroom 14.5% 13.3%
Schools with two or more shifts (SY 2024-25) 2.0% 4.3%
Median learners per classroom, elementary 26.2 24.9
Last Mile Schools 39.9% 18.5%
Schools using makeshift rooms (2023) 36.7% 29.0%
Schools with a building for condemnation or demolition 24.8% 28.9%

On the shortage itself, NIR is lighter than the country: a lower rate, fewer schools with a shortage, fewer shifts. It is heavier on two measures of physical conditions. Last Mile Schools make up 39.9% of its schools against 18.5% nationally, and makeshift rooms are more common, 36.7% against 29.0%. On the 2026 list it is close to the country, and a slightly larger share of its schools with a shortage receive a classroom, 14.5% against 13.3%. Elementary classrooms are a little fuller than the national median, 26.2 learners against 24.9, even with the lower shortage.

Kindergarten to Grade 10 account for 3,684 classrooms of the shortage and senior high school for 894, 19.5%. In the country as a whole, urban schools are short 8.4 classrooms per 1,000 learners and rural schools 6.1; in NIR the two are almost level, 4.1 in urban schools and 4.3 in rural ones. The 949 urban schools still hold 59.3% of the shortage because they enroll more learners. At the same time, 934 schools report 3,269 more Kindergarten to Grade 10 classrooms than they need, not far below the region’s K–10 shortage of 3,684; a spare room in one barangay does not seat learners in another.

Classroom shortage by division in NIR

NIR has 21 schools divisions, one of the largest numbers of any region: the provincial divisions of Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor and 18 city divisions. The chart ranks them by the shortage per 1,000 learners, so a small city division can be read beside a large provincial one.

Horizontal bar chart of the 2023 classroom shortage per 1,000 learners in NIR’s 21 divisions. Guihulngan City (9.2, 319 classrooms) and Canlaon City (9.1, 125) are the only divisions past the national line of 7.4; Himamaylan City follows at 5.9, Negros Oriental is at 4.8 and Negros Occidental at 3.9 with the largest count, 1,129, and Siquijor and La Carlota City are lowest at 1.2.
Figure 1. Classroom shortage per 1,000 learners by division, NIR, 2023 shortage and SY 2024-25 learners. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. Download the full-resolution chart (PNG).

The chart has one clear break. Guihulngan City (9.2) and Canlaon City (9.1) stand well apart from the rest; the next division, Himamaylan City, is at 5.9. Below them the rates fall gently from Dumaguete City (5.2) to Bayawan City (3.3), with 10 of the 21 divisions above the regional 4.2. At the bottom sits a group of Negros Occidental cities and the island of Siquijor: Silay City and Sagay City at 1.9, Bago City at 1.4, and Siquijor and La Carlota City at 1.2.

Counts tell a different story. The three largest divisions by enrollment, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Bacolod City, hold more than half of the shortage between them; Negros Occidental alone is short 1,129 classrooms, 24.7% of the region’s, at a rate of 3.9. Guihulngan City is short 319 classrooms for 34,509 learners, more than Kabankalan City with 49,496 learners.

Division Schools Learners (SY 2024-25) Classroom shortage (2023) Shortage per 1,000 learners Schools with a shortage SBP 2026 classrooms Coverage
Guihulngan City 100 34,509 319 9.2 66.0% 18 5.6%
Canlaon City 32 13,734 125 9.1 81.3% 25 20.0%
Himamaylan City 54 28,039 165 5.9 57.4% 20 12.1%
Dumaguete City 25 25,108 130 5.2 64.0% 44 33.8%
Sipalay City 47 19,951 100 5.0 61.7% 12 12.0%
Tanjay City 94 25,695 129 5.0 59.6% 20 15.5%
Cadiz City 69 39,722 196 4.9 42.0% 26 13.3%
Negros Oriental 512 174,611 830 4.8 54.5% 90 10.8%
Kabankalan City 91 49,496 231 4.7 64.8% 13 5.6%
Bacolod City 70 113,210 481 4.3 70.0% 102 21.2%
San Carlos City 65 30,103 125 4.1 41.5% 24 19.2%
Victorias City 24 21,263 88 4.1 37.5% 13 14.8%
Bais City 59 19,423 82 4.1 50.8% 5 6.1%
Negros Occidental 576 291,530 1,129 3.9 41.0% 191 16.9%
Escalante City 41 24,749 84 3.4 53.7% 20 23.9%
Bayawan City 93 41,809 140 3.3 44.1% 32 22.9%
Silay City 39 28,619 55 1.9 51.3% 24 43.3%
Sagay City 66 38,146 72 1.9 31.8% 29 40.1%
Bago City 47 36,631 52 1.4 38.3% 13 24.9%
Siquijor 78 20,087 24 1.2 12.8% 41 169.4%
La Carlota City 29 17,451 21 1.2 20.7% 20 95.2%

The share of schools with a shortage runs from 81.3% in Canlaon City to 12.8% in Siquijor; in Bacolod City, 70.0% of schools are short. Coverage, the division’s SBP 2026 classrooms as a share of its shortage, is lowest in Kabankalan City and Guihulngan City, 5.6%, and highest in Siquijor (169.4%) and La Carlota City (95.2%), the two divisions with the lowest rates. Every SBP 2026 classroom in NIR is at a school with a division, so the division column adds up to the regional list.

Provinces and cities: Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Bacolod and Siquijor

The Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) places NIR’s schools in three provinces, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental and Siquijor, and one highly urbanized city that stands apart from them, Bacolod. The 17 other cities with their own schools divisions, from Cadiz and San Carlos to Dumaguete and Bayawan, are counted inside their provinces here.

Province or city Cities and municipalities Schools Classroom shortage (2023) Shortage per 1,000 learners SBP 2026 classrooms Coverage
Negros Occidental 31 1,147 2,314 3.8 405 17.5%
Negros Oriental 25 915 1,754 5.2 234 13.3%
City of Bacolod 1 71 486 4.0 102 21.0%
Siquijor 6 78 24 1.2 41 169.4%

Negros Occidental, with its 11 component-city divisions, holds 2,314 classrooms of shortage, 50.5% of the region’s, but runs at 3.8 per 1,000 learners. Negros Oriental is short fewer classrooms, 1,754, at a higher rate, 5.2, and its SBP 2026 classrooms cover less of its shortage, 13.3% against 17.5%. Siquijor, short 24 classrooms, is the only province or city whose list exceeds its shortage.

Among NIR’s 63 cities and municipalities, the City of Bacolod has the largest shortage, 486 classrooms. Eight of the 10 largest are cities; Cauayan and Siaton are the only municipalities among them.

City or municipality Province or city Income class Schools Classroom shortage (2023) SBP 2026 classrooms Coverage
City of Bacolod City of Bacolod 1st 71 486 102 21.0%
City of Guihulngan Negros Oriental 2nd 79 280 16 5.7%
Cauayan Negros Occidental 1st 74 236 14 5.9%
City of Kabankalan Negros Occidental 1st 93 231 13 5.6%
City of Cadiz Negros Occidental 1st 69 196 26 13.3%
City of Himamaylan Negros Occidental 2nd 56 165 20 12.1%
Siaton Negros Oriental 1st 59 159 18 11.3%
City of Dumaguete Negros Oriental 2nd 26 145 44 30.3%
City of Canlaon Negros Oriental 4th 38 125 25 20.0%
City of San Carlos Negros Occidental 1st 65 125 24 19.2%

Almost every place with a shortage gets something: only one city or municipality with a shortage has no SBP 2026 classroom, Manapla, Negros Occidental, short 25. Seven receive more classrooms than their shortage, 34 beyond it in all. The city figures follow the PSGC boundaries and the SBP masterlist’s own municipality, so they can differ from the division of the same name. The clearest case is Guihulngan: the division counts 100 schools, 319 classrooms of shortage and 18 SBP classrooms, the City of Guihulngan 79 schools, 280 and 16. Cauayan, a first-class municipality short 236 classrooms, receives 14.

Schools with the largest classroom shortages in NIR

Eight of the 10 schools with the largest shortages are high schools; the other two are Tabao ES in Valladolid and Villa Miranda ES in Victorias City. Eight are in Negros Occidental and two in Negros Oriental. Together they are short 428 classrooms, 9.3% of the region’s shortage.

School ID School Division City or municipality Learners (SY 2024-25) Learners per classroom Classroom shortage (2023) SBP 2026 classrooms Two or more shifts
302730 Dr. Vicente F. Gustilo Memorial NHS Cadiz City City of Cadiz 6,908 64.0 81 0 Yes
302789 Kabankalan National High School Kabankalan City City of Kabankalan 2,622 72.8 44 4 Yes
302775 Julio Ledesma National High School San Carlos City City of San Carlos 5,003 45.1 41 10 Yes
303231 Guihulngan NHS - Poblacion Guihulngan City City of Guihulngan 3,939 179.0 41 0 No
117428 Tabao ES Negros Occidental Valladolid 1,211 28.2 39 0 No
302656 La Castellana NHS Negros Occidental La Castellana 5,452 34.3 38 0 No
303223 Jose B. Cardenas MHS (Canlaon City NHS) Canlaon City City of Canlaon 2,368 103.0 38 0 No
302621 Enrique B. Magalona NHS Negros Occidental Enrique B. Magalona 4,666 45.7 37 0 No
117437 Villa Miranda ES Victorias City City of Victorias 788 46.4 35 0 No
302649 Himamaylan NHS Himamaylan City City of Himamaylan 4,628 54.4 34 0 Yes

Dr. Vicente F. Gustilo Memorial NHS in Cadiz City has the largest shortage in the region, 81 classrooms, for 6,908 learners, nearly twice the next school’s 44. The most crowded rooms in the table are in the two Negros Oriental schools: Guihulngan NHS - Poblacion has 179.0 learners per classroom and Jose B. Cardenas MHS (Canlaon City NHS) 103.0, and neither holds classes in shifts. Only two of the 10 are on the SBP 2026 list: Julio Ledesma National High School with 10 classrooms and Kabankalan National High School with four. Where two schools share a shortage, as at 41 and 38 classrooms, the one with more learners is listed first.

Looking beyond the top 10, NIR’s shortage is somewhat less concentrated than the country’s. The 221 schools with the largest shortages, the top 10% of the region’s schools, hold 59.8% of it, against 66.0% nationally, and 101 schools short by 10 or more hold 41.4%. Half of the shortage sits in 150 schools, 6.8% of the total, and among schools with a shortage the median is 2.0 classrooms. Philippine Classroom Shortage 2023: Where the Gap Is explains these concentration measures.

SBP 2026 classrooms in NIR

The SBP 2026 list has 265 lines for NIR, 782 classrooms at 254 schools, all funded under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) 2026 with PHP 2.50 billion. That is 2.4% of the national list, against the region’s 2.8% of the shortage. Figure 2 pairs each division’s 2023 shortage with its 2026 classrooms.

Paired horizontal bars of the 2023 classroom shortage and SBP 2026 classrooms in NIR’s 21 divisions. Negros Occidental has 1,129 classrooms of shortage and 191 on the list, Negros Oriental 830 and 90, Bacolod City 481 and 102, Guihulngan City 319 and 18, and Kabankalan City 231 and 13; only Siquijor’s list is longer than its shortage, 41 against 24, and La Carlota City’s nearly matches it, 20 against 21.
Figure 2. 2023 classroom shortage and SBP 2026 classrooms by division, NIR. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. Download the full-resolution chart (PNG).

The gap between the bars is widest where the shortage is largest. Negros Oriental, the provincial division, has 90 classrooms on the list for a shortage of 830, and Guihulngan City 18 for 319. Bacolod City does better at 102 for 481, and at the foot of the chart Siquijor and La Carlota City have lists as long as or longer than their small shortages.

Modality group Lines Schools Classrooms Share of the region’s SBP classrooms
DPWH 59 59 218 27.9%
LGU 125 125 437 55.9%
DepEd 81 81 127 16.2%
PSIP III (PPP) 0 0 0 0.0%

Local governments implement 437 of the region’s classrooms (55.9%), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 218 (27.9%) and DepEd itself 127 (16.2%), a far larger DepEd share than the 4.0% on the national list. NIR has no PSIP III public-private partnership line, while half of the national list, 16,305 classrooms, is PSIP III. DepEd School Building Program 2026 in Numbers describes each modality and its budget.

School by school, the list matches NIR’s need less closely than the country’s. Of the 782 classrooms, 355 (45.4%) fall within the receiving school’s own 2023 shortage, against 53.0% nationally, and 261 (33.4%) go to 91 schools that had no shortage in 2023. Of the 1,080 schools with a shortage, 157 (14.5%) receive any classroom, and of the 88 schools short by more than 10, 12 (13.6%) do. Counted this way, the 2026 list meets 7.7% of the region’s shortage and leaves 4,224 classrooms unmet. Do 2026 Classrooms Go Where the Shortage Is? explains why a classroom at a school without a shortage does not reduce the need anywhere else.

Class shifts and crowded classrooms in NIR

Shifts are uncommon in NIR. In SY 2024-25, 44 of the region’s 2,242 schools in the enrollment data (2.0%) held classes in two or more shifts, one of them in three. They enroll 74,219 learners, 6.8% of the region’s total, against 20.4% of learners nationally. Of the 43 shifting schools in the shortage data, 81.4% had a shortage, and nine (20.9%) receive SBP 2026 classrooms.

Crowding is closer to the national picture than the shortage rate suggests. The median school has 26.2 learners per classroom in elementary, 32.3 in junior high and 30.8 in senior high, against 24.9, 32.1 and 30.6 nationally, a little above the country at every level. 158 schools have more than 50 learners per classroom, with 12.8% of the learners counted, against 26.2% nationally; bringing each down to 50 would take at least 685 classrooms. Class Shifts and Crowded Classrooms in DepEd Schools explains the measure.

The 2023 facilities data point to the condition of rooms more than their number. 811 schools (36.7%) use makeshift rooms, against 29.0% nationally; EDCOM II counts 6,808 more classrooms needed in 2,677 schools nationwide that rely substantially on makeshift classrooms (EDCOM II, 2026). 547 schools (24.8%) report a building for condemnation or demolition, 1,138 buildings in all, below the national 28.9%.

Last Mile Schools in NIR

883 of the region’s schools (39.9%) are flagged as Last Mile Schools, schools in geographically isolated, disadvantaged and conflict-affected areas and hardship posts. Only CAR has a larger share. They hold 1,596 classrooms of shortage, 34.8% of NIR’s, against 9.2% for Last Mile Schools nationally, so in this region remote schools are a large part of the shortage, not a footnote to it.

A few more of them have a shortage than other schools, 51.5% against 47.1%, and they are about as likely to be on the 2026 list, 11.1% against 11.3%, with 275 classrooms between them. That still leaves 384 Last Mile Schools with a shortage, 1,309 classrooms in all, with no 2026 classroom. DepEd’s own Last Mile School modality has 20 lines with 66 classrooms in the region. Last Mile Schools: Classroom Need and 2026 Allocation compares them across the country.

What this means for school heads in NIR

NIR’s low average combines Guihulngan City’s crowded high schools with Siquijor, where only 12.8% of schools have a shortage. Start from your own division and school.

  • Look up your school before you look at the region. The school table gives your school’s 2023 shortage, learners per classroom, Last Mile flag and SBP 2026 lines by school ID; the EDCOM II classroom data page links every file.
  • Use the division rate when the regional one undersells you. A school in Guihulngan City or Canlaon City sits in a division short 9.2 or 9.1 classrooms per 1,000 learners, more than twice the regional 4.2; that is the figure to cite.
  • Name the school’s Last Mile status in every request. Nearly two in five NIR schools are Last Mile Schools, and 384 of those with a shortage get no 2026 classroom. DepEd’s Last Mile School modality is a separate channel, with 20 lines in the region this year.
  • Record makeshift rooms and condemned buildings, not only the count of rooms. With 36.7% of schools using makeshift rooms, the condition of a school’s rooms is part of its case; put both in the school improvement plan and the annual implementation plan, with their years and sources.
  • Work with the city or municipal government. Local governments implement 55.9% of NIR’s 2026 classrooms, and 18 of its 21 divisions are city divisions, where the city and the division share a name.
  • Check the record if the list looks wrong. A third of the region’s 2026 classrooms go to schools with no 2023 shortage. If your school has a shortage and no line, or a line it did not expect, check its ID and figures with the division.

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 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. A division’s coverage is its SBP 2026 classrooms divided by its 2023 shortage. Classrooms within a school’s shortage are counted up to the size of that shortage, and any beyond it are counted as beyond. Regions follow the PSGC: NIR is counted as its own region, separate from Region VI and Region VII, and Sulu is in Region IX; divisions are DepEd’s schools divisions.

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. Older DepEd reports may list NIR’s divisions under Western or Central Visayas, so totals from those reports will not match these. 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. 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 NIR?

DepEd’s 2023 data put the Negros Island Region’s classroom shortage at 4,579 classrooms, 2.8% of the national shortage of 165,443. That is 4.2 classrooms per 1,000 learners, against 7.4 nationally, and 48.8% of the region’s public schools have a shortage.

Which division in NIR has the biggest classroom shortage?

By count, Negros Occidental, the provincial division, with 1,129 classrooms, 24.7% of the region’s shortage. By rate, Guihulngan City, short 9.2 classrooms per 1,000 learners, followed closely by Canlaon City at 9.1; they are the only two NIR divisions above the national rate of 7.4.

How many classrooms will NIR get under the SBP 2026?

The SBP 2026 masterlist has 782 classrooms for NIR on 265 lines at 254 schools, funded under the GAA 2026 with PHP 2.50 billion. They equal 17.1% of the region’s 2023 shortage, against 19.6% nationally. These are planned classrooms; the list does not show whether any have been built.

Is the classroom shortage worse in Negros Occidental or Negros Oriental?

It depends on the measure. Negros Occidental, with its component cities, is short more classrooms, 2,314, but at 3.8 per 1,000 learners; Negros Oriental is short 1,754 at 5.2, and both of the region’s divisions above the national rate, Guihulngan City and Canlaon City, are in Negros Oriental. The City of Bacolod, counted on its own, is short 486.

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 for written permission first. How the EDCOM Classroom Data Was Cleaned explains every table and cleaning rule. The files are at data.nash.com.ph: start with the README, then the school table (Parquet, or CSV), the School Building Program lines (CSV), the city and municipality table (CSV), and every table for Stata and SPSS. Every regional figure in this report can be computed from the school table, filtered to NIR by deped_region.

Every file, with its rows, columns and checksum, is listed on the EDCOM II classroom data page. 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 NIR, 2023–2026: Guihulngan and Canlaon. NASH Reviewer Blog. https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-negros-island-region

References

More in this series

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.