# Classroom Shortage in Region XII, 2023–2026: Rural Schools

Region XII's rural schools lack 10.0 classrooms per 1,000 learners, urban ones 6.8, and SBP 2026 covers 6.0% of its shortage; only BARMM's share is lower.

This is the Markdown copy of [Classroom Shortage in Region XII, 2023–2026: Rural Schools](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-12-soccsksargen), 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.

Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN, often searched as Region 12) lacked 8,281 classrooms in 2023, according to DepEd's classroom shortage data as published in the EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard. That is 5.0% of the national shortage of 165,443 classrooms, the ninth largest of the 18 regions. Against learners it is heavier: 8.0 classrooms short for every 1,000 learners enrolled in SY 2024-25, against 7.4 nationally, the sixth highest rate. Seven in ten of its public schools, 70.7%, are short of at least one classroom, against 54.2% nationally.

Two things set Region XII apart. Its shortage falls hardest on rural schools, which are short 10.0 classrooms per 1,000 learners against 6.8 in urban schools, the reverse of the national pattern, and its highest rates are in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato and Sarangani. And the School Building Program (SBP) 2026 reaches it less than almost any other region: its 494 classrooms equal 6.0% of the shortage, against 19.6% nationally, and of the 18 regions only BARMM has a lower share. In the three divisions with the highest rates, the list covers between 3.1% and 4.2% of the shortage.

The figures below come from the cleaned school-level data behind the dashboard. Every file is listed on the [EDCOM II classroom data page](https://nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data).

## Key findings

- Region XII lacked 8,281 classrooms in 2023, 8.0 per 1,000 learners against 7.4 nationally, and 1,512 of its 2,139 public schools (70.7%) had a shortage.
- Rural schools are short 10.0 classrooms per 1,000 learners and urban schools 6.8, while nationally urban schools have the higher rate, 8.4 against 6.1.
- Cotabato province, with Kidapawan City, holds 3,433 classrooms of the shortage (41.5%), and Kidapawan City (10.9), North Cotabato (10.7) and Sarangani (10.4) are the only divisions above the national rate.
- The SBP 2026 list holds 494 classrooms for the region, 6.0% of its shortage, the second lowest share of the 18 regions, and between 3.1% and 4.2% in those three divisions.
- The shortage is spread over many schools: the median school with a shortage lacks 4.0 classrooms, against 3.0 nationally, and the top 10% of schools hold 45.4% of it, against 66.0% nationally.
- 851 schools (40.0%) use makeshift rooms, against 29.0% nationally, while only 22 schools (1.0%) hold classes in shifts.
- 84.9% of the region's Last Mile Schools have a shortage, against 68.7% of its other schools, and 191 of them, short 786 classrooms, get no SBP 2026 classroom.

## Region XII against the country

The table puts Region XII beside the Philippines, row by row, on the same definitions.

| Indicator                                               |   Region XII |   Philippines |
|:--------------------------------------------------------|-------------:|--------------:|
| Schools in the 2023 shortage data                       |        2,139 |        47,659 |
| Schools with a classroom shortage                       |        70.7% |         54.2% |
| Classroom shortage (2023)                               |        8,281 |       165,443 |
| Shortage per 1,000 learners                             |          8.0 |           7.4 |
| SBP 2026 classrooms                                     |          494 |        32,419 |
| SBP 2026 classrooms as a share of the shortage          |         6.0% |         19.6% |
| Schools with a shortage that get any SBP 2026 classroom |         9.3% |         13.3% |
| Schools with two or more shifts (SY 2024-25)            |         1.0% |          4.3% |
| Median learners per classroom, elementary               |         29.5 |          24.9 |
| Last Mile Schools                                       |        12.1% |         18.5% |
| Schools using makeshift rooms (2023)                    |        40.0% |         29.0% |
| Schools with a building for condemnation or demolition  |        29.9% |         28.9% |

The widest gap is in the SBP 2026 row: the region's 6.0% is less than a third of the national 19.6%. The facilities rows come next, with makeshift rooms in 40.0% of schools against 29.0%, although buildings for condemnation are near the national level. Region XII's schools rarely run shifts, 1.0% against 4.3%, yet its median elementary school has 29.5 learners per classroom, against 24.9 nationally.

Kindergarten to Grade 10 accounts for 7,383 classrooms of the shortage and senior high school for 898 (10.8%). The region's 1,374 rural schools are short 10.0 classrooms per 1,000 learners and its 744 urban schools 6.8. By count the shortage divides almost evenly, 51.5% urban and 47.5% rural, because the urban schools, though fewer, enroll more learners each. Elsewhere, 482 schools report 1,521 more Kindergarten to Grade 10 classrooms than they need; those rooms cannot fill another school's gap.

## Classroom shortage by division in Region XII

Region XII has eight schools divisions: four provincial divisions, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani, and four city divisions, General Santos City, Koronadal City, Kidapawan City and Tacurong City. North Cotabato is DepEd's name for the division of Cotabato province. Figure 1 ranks them by the shortage per 1,000 learners.

![Horizontal bar chart of the 2023 classroom shortage per 1,000 learners in Region XII's eight divisions. Kidapawan City is highest at 10.9 (447 classrooms), North Cotabato next at 10.7 (2,986) and Sarangani at 10.4 (1,487), all above the regional 8.0 and national 7.4 lines; Koronadal City (6.7), Sultan Kudarat (6.6), South Cotabato (5.9), General Santos City (5.2) and Tacurong City (4.3) are below both.](https://nash.com.ph/blog/_astro/classroom-shortage-region-12-soccsksargen-divisions.Bd8TGKgq_2a3mfk.webp)

*Figure 1. Classroom shortage per 1,000 learners by division, Region XII, 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-region-12-soccsksargen-divisions.png).*

The chart splits into two groups with a clear gap between them. Kidapawan City, North Cotabato and Sarangani are each short more than 10 classrooms per 1,000 learners; the other five divisions are short 6.7 or fewer, and none falls between 6.7 and the regional rate of 8.0. General Santos City, the region's largest city, is near the bottom at 5.2.

By count, North Cotabato leads with 2,986 classrooms, 36.1% of the region's shortage and the ninth largest of any schools division in the country. Sarangani follows with 1,487, from fewer than half as many schools as North Cotabato.

| Division            |   Schools |   Learners (SY 2024-25) |   Classroom shortage (2023) |   Shortage per 1,000 learners |   Schools with a shortage |   SBP 2026 classrooms |   Coverage |
|:--------------------|----------:|------------------------:|----------------------------:|------------------------------:|--------------------------:|----------------------:|-----------:|
| Kidapawan City      |        75 |                  40,931 |                         447 |                          10.9 |                     80.0% |                    14 |       3.1% |
| North Cotabato      |       773 |                 274,874 |                       2,986 |                          10.7 |                     71.9% |                   121 |       4.1% |
| Sarangani           |       323 |                 141,057 |                       1,487 |                          10.4 |                     78.3% |                    62 |       4.2% |
| Koronadal City      |        54 |                  42,996 |                         289 |                           6.7 |                     66.7% |                    38 |      13.1% |
| Sultan Kudarat      |       399 |                 156,404 |                       1,053 |                           6.6 |                     64.7% |                   120 |      11.4% |
| South Cotabato      |       381 |                 190,755 |                       1,129 |                           5.9 |                     68.2% |                    86 |       7.6% |
| General Santos City |       103 |                 153,648 |                         791 |                           5.2 |                     74.8% |                    37 |       4.7% |
| Tacurong City       |        31 |                  22,624 |                          98 |                           4.3 |                     38.7% |                    15 |      15.3% |

In every division but Tacurong City (38.7%), 64.7% or more of the schools have a shortage, and in Kidapawan City 80.0% do. Coverage runs roughly opposite to the rates: the three divisions with the highest rates have the lowest coverage, Kidapawan City 3.1%, North Cotabato 4.1% and Sarangani 4.2%, while Tacurong City, with the lowest rate, has the highest, 15.3%. The division totals leave out one SBP classroom at a school that has no division in the data; the regional totals include it.

## Provinces and cities: Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos

The Philippine Standard Geographic Code (PSGC) places Region XII's schools in four provinces and one highly urbanized city, General Santos, which stands apart from South Cotabato. The other city divisions are component cities counted in their provinces: Kidapawan in Cotabato, Koronadal in South Cotabato and Tacurong in Sultan Kudarat. Cotabato here is the province DepEd's division calls North Cotabato; Cotabato City is in BARMM and not part of it.

| Province or city       |   Cities and municipalities |   Schools |   Classroom shortage (2023) |   Shortage per 1,000 learners |   SBP 2026 classrooms |   Coverage |
|:-----------------------|----------------------------:|----------:|----------------------------:|------------------------------:|----------------------:|-----------:|
| Cotabato               |                          18 |       848 |                       3,433 |                          10.7 |                   136 |       4.0% |
| Sarangani              |                           7 |       323 |                       1,487 |                          10.4 |                    62 |       4.2% |
| South Cotabato         |                          11 |       435 |                       1,418 |                           6.1 |                   124 |       8.7% |
| Sultan Kudarat         |                          12 |       430 |                       1,151 |                           6.3 |                   135 |      11.7% |
| City of General Santos |                           1 |       103 |                         791 |                           5.2 |                    37 |       4.7% |

Cotabato holds 41.5% of the region's shortage. It and Sarangani, the two provinces with rates above 10, have coverage of 4.0% and 4.2%. Sultan Kudarat's 135 SBP classrooms, nearly as many as Cotabato's 136, meet 11.7% of a shortage about a third the size.

Among the region's 49 cities and municipalities, the City of General Santos has the largest shortage, 791 classrooms, followed by the City of Kidapawan, 447, and Carmen, Cotabato, 361. Four of the 10 largest are in Cotabato and three in Sarangani:

| City or municipality   | Province or city       | Income class   |   Schools |   Classroom shortage (2023) |   SBP 2026 classrooms |   Coverage |
|:-----------------------|:-----------------------|:---------------|----------:|----------------------------:|----------------------:|-----------:|
| City of General Santos | City of General Santos | 1st            |       105 |                         791 |                    37 |       4.7% |
| City of Kidapawan      | Cotabato               | 1st            |        76 |                         447 |                    14 |       3.1% |
| Carmen                 | Cotabato               | 1st            |        56 |                         361 |                    14 |       3.9% |
| City of Koronadal      | South Cotabato         | 1st            |        55 |                         289 |                    38 |      13.1% |
| Glan                   | Sarangani              | 1st            |        61 |                         281 |                     7 |       2.5% |
| Malungon               | Sarangani              | 1st            |        86 |                         278 |                    13 |       4.7% |
| Alabel                 | Sarangani              | 1st            |        51 |                         259 |                    11 |       4.2% |
| Alamada                | Cotabato               | 1st            |        47 |                         248 |                     4 |       1.6% |
| Kabacan                | Cotabato               | 1st            |        31 |                         231 |                     7 |       3.0% |
| T'Boli                 | South Cotabato         | 1st            |        65 |                         231 |                    22 |       9.5% |

Coverage among the 10 runs from 1.6% in Alamada to 13.1% in the City of Koronadal. The list does reach almost every place: only one city or municipality with a shortage has no SBP 2026 classroom, Midsayap, Cotabato, short 173, and none receives more classrooms than its shortage. The city figures follow the PSGC boundaries and the SBP masterlist's own municipality, which can differ from the division of the same name; for the three cities in the table, the shortage and SBP classrooms match their city divisions, with a school or two more counted in each city.

## Schools with the largest classroom shortages in Region XII

The 10 schools with the largest shortages come from seven of the eight divisions, and four of them hold classes in shifts. Together they are short 638 classrooms, 7.7% of the region's shortage. School IDs are given for lookup in the school table.

|   School ID | School                                   | Division            | City or municipality   |   Learners (SY 2024-25) |   Learners per classroom |   Classroom shortage (2023) |   SBP 2026 classrooms | Two or more shifts   |
|------------:|:-----------------------------------------|:--------------------|:-----------------------|------------------------:|-------------------------:|----------------------------:|----------------------:|:---------------------|
|      304427 | Carmen National High School              | North Cotabato      | Carmen                 |                   4,037 |                    168.2 |                         118 |                     3 | No                   |
|      304671 | Koronadal NCHS                           | Koronadal City      | City of Koronadal      |                  11,219 |                     53.7 |                          90 |                     3 | Yes                  |
|      304661 | Kidapawan City National High School      | Kidapawan City      | City of Kidapawan      |                   8,434 |                     57.8 |                          79 |                     0 | Yes                  |
|      304624 | Tacurong National High School            | Tacurong City       | City of Tacurong       |                   5,219 |                     62.9 |                          69 |                     0 | Yes                  |
|      304642 | General Santos City National High School | General Santos City | City of General Santos |                  12,126 |                     47.6 |                          63 |                     3 | No                   |
|      304461 | LIBUNGAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL            | North Cotabato      | Libungan               |                   2,177 |                     50.6 |                          59 |                     0 | No                   |
|      500282 | Alabel Central Integrated SPED Center    | Sarangani           | Alabel                 |                   4,383 |                     46.6 |                          47 |                     0 | No                   |
|      304555 | Libertad National High School            | South Cotabato      | Surallah               |                   5,229 |                     51.8 |                          38 |                     0 | No                   |
|      129877 | Antipas CES                              | North Cotabato      | Antipas                |                   1,153 |                     28.8 |                          38 |                     0 | No                   |
|      304641 | Fatima National High School              | General Santos City | City of General Santos |                   6,896 |                     58.9 |                          37 |                     0 | Yes                  |

Carmen National High School in North Cotabato has the largest shortage in the region, 118 classrooms, and by far the most crowded rooms of the 10: 168.2 learners per classroom for 4,037 learners, without shifts. Three of the 10 are on the SBP 2026 list, each with three classrooms: Carmen National High School, Koronadal NCHS and General Santos City National High School. General Santos City National High School and Koronadal NCHS are the largest of the 10 by enrollment, with 12,126 and 11,219 learners. Fatima National High School shares 10th place with Saavedra Saway Cental [sic] Elementary School, also in General Santos City and also short 37; ties are broken by enrollment.

Past the top 10, Region XII's shortage is spread more evenly than the country's. The 214 schools with the largest shortages, the top 10% of the region's schools, hold 45.4% of it, against 66.0% nationally, and half of it is spread over 258 schools (12.1%). The 188 schools short by 10 or more classrooms hold 42.5%, and the median school with a shortage lacks 4.0 classrooms, against 3.0 nationally. [Philippine Classroom Shortage 2023: Where the Gap Is](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-philippines-2023) shows how the national figures are built.

## SBP 2026 classrooms in Region XII

The SBP 2026 list has 174 lines for Region XII, 494 classrooms at 168 schools, all funded under the General Appropriations Act (GAA) 2026 with PHP 1.67 billion. The region receives 1.5% of the national list against 5.0% of the national shortage. Figure 2 sets each division's 2023 shortage beside its 2026 classrooms.

![Paired horizontal bars of the 2023 classroom shortage and SBP 2026 classrooms in Region XII's eight divisions. North Cotabato has 2,986 classrooms of shortage and 121 on the list, Sarangani 1,487 and 62, South Cotabato 1,129 and 86, Sultan Kudarat 1,053 and 120, General Santos City 791 and 37, Kidapawan City 447 and 14, Koronadal City 289 and 38, and Tacurong City 98 and 15.](https://nash.com.ph/blog/_astro/classroom-shortage-region-12-soccsksargen-sbp-2026.CVsuYrZz_Z1gAwVe.webp)

*Figure 2. 2023 classroom shortage and SBP 2026 classrooms by division, Region XII. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. [Download the full-resolution chart (PNG)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/classroom-shortage-region-12-soccsksargen-sbp-2026.png).*

North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat have almost the same number of classrooms on the list, 121 and 120, for shortages of 2,986 and 1,053. Sarangani, with the second largest shortage, has 62, and Kidapawan City 14.

| Modality group   |   Lines |   Schools |   Classrooms |   Share of the region's SBP classrooms |
|:-----------------|--------:|----------:|-------------:|---------------------------------------:|
| DPWH             |      54 |        54 |          165 |                                  33.4% |
| LGU              |      70 |        70 |          249 |                                  50.4% |
| DepEd            |      50 |        50 |           80 |                                  16.2% |
| PSIP III (PPP)   |       0 |         0 |            0 |                                   0.0% |

Local governments implement half of the region's classrooms, 249 (50.4%), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) 165 (33.4%) and DepEd 80 (16.2%), a DepEd share four times its 4.0% of the national list. Region XII has no PSIP III line, and its 6.0% coverage is also below the 9.7% that GAA-funded classrooms alone cover nationally. [DepEd School Building Program 2026 in Numbers](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-school-building-program-2026) has the national breakdown by modality.

What the region does receive is mostly aimed at need. School by school, 351 classrooms (71.1%) fall within the receiving school's own 2023 shortage, against 53.0% nationally, and 65 (13.2%) go to schools with no 2023 shortage. But only 140 of the 1,512 schools with a shortage (9.3%) receive any classroom, and 28 of the 163 short by more than 10 (17.2%). Counted this way, the list meets 4.2% of the region's shortage and leaves 7,929 classrooms unmet. [Do 2026 Classrooms Go Where the Shortage Is?](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-allocation-vs-shortage-2026) shows how classrooms are counted against each school's own shortage, and why a room beyond it helps no other school.

## Class shifts and crowded classrooms in Region XII

Shifts are rare in Region XII. In SY 2024-25, 22 of its 2,164 schools in the enrollment data (1.0%) held classes in two or more shifts, none in three, against 4.3% nationally; they enroll 51,782 learners, 5.0% of the region's total. Of the 21 in the shortage data, 81.0% had a shortage, and only one receives SBP 2026 classrooms.

Classrooms are fuller instead. The median elementary school has 29.5 learners per classroom, against 24.9 nationally, and junior high (32.7) and senior high (32.0) are also above the national 32.1 and 30.6. At the extreme, 293 schools exceed 50 learners per classroom. They enroll 19.8% of the learners counted and would need at least 1,167 more classrooms to reach 50 each. [Class Shifts and Crowded Classrooms in DepEd Schools](https://nash.com.ph/blog/class-shifting-crowded-classrooms) sets out the method.

Makeshift rooms are the region's clearest sign of strain in the 2023 facilities data: 851 schools (40.0%) used them, against 29.0% nationally. Buildings for condemnation or demolition are close to the national level, reported by 635 schools (29.9%), 1,480 buildings in all, against 28.9%.

## Last Mile Schools in Region XII

Region XII has 258 Last Mile Schools, 12.1% of its schools against 18.5% nationally: schools in geographically isolated, disadvantaged and conflict-affected areas and hardship posts. A shortage is unusually common among them: 84.9% have one, against 68.7% of the region's other schools and 61.5% of Last Mile Schools nationally. Together they are short 946 classrooms, 11.4% of the region's shortage.

They are more likely than other schools to be on the 2026 list, 11.2% against 7.1%, with 75 classrooms between them, but 191 of them with a shortage, 786 classrooms in all, are not on it. In the region, DepEd's Last Mile School modality has 17 lines and 49 classrooms. [Last Mile Schools: Classroom Need and 2026 Allocation](https://nash.com.ph/blog/last-mile-schools-classroom-shortage) covers them across the country.

## What this means for school heads in Region XII

Region XII's shortage is spread across many schools, weighs most on rural ones and is rarely met with shifts, and the 2026 list covers a smaller share of it than in any region but BARMM.

- **Find your school first.** Look up your school ID in the school table on the [EDCOM II classroom data page](https://nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data) for your 2023 shortage, learners per classroom and any SBP 2026 lines.
- **In a rural school, show the rate and the rooms.** Rural schools in the region are short 10.0 classrooms per 1,000 learners. A gap of 4.0 classrooms, the median for a school with a shortage in the region, can be most of a small school's rooms; give the shortage beside the number of classrooms you have.
- **Document makeshift rooms.** With 40.0% of schools using them, list each one, what it is used for and its condition in the [school improvement plan](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-school-improvement-plan); the shortage figure alone does not show them.
- **In Cotabato and Sarangani, cite the coverage gap.** Divisions where the 2026 list equals 3.1% to 4.2% of the shortage have a clear case for the next round, and Last Mile Schools there can add their status to it.
- **Work with the LGU and the local school board.** Local governments implement 50.4% of the region's 2026 classrooms, so the municipal or city government is a partner in any request.
- **Correct the record early.** A school that opened, merged or changed its ID after 2023 may show the wrong shortage or none; report it to the division before the next list is drawn up.

## 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. 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. Urban and rural follow the classification in the cleaned school table. Regions follow the PSGC: Region XII here is Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City, while Cotabato City and the Special Geographic Area are in BARMM. 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. 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. Division totals of SBP classrooms leave out the one classroom at a school with no division in the data. A few schools have no urban or rural classification, so the urban and rural shares fall just short of the whole. 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 Region XII?

DepEd's 2023 data put Region XII's classroom shortage at 8,281 classrooms, 5.0% of the national shortage of 165,443. That is 8.0 classrooms per 1,000 learners, against 7.4 nationally, and 70.7% of the region's public schools have a shortage.

### Which division in Region XII has the biggest classroom shortage?

By count, North Cotabato, with 2,986 classrooms, 36.1% of the region's shortage. By rate, Kidapawan City, short 10.9 classrooms per 1,000 learners, just ahead of North Cotabato at 10.7 and Sarangani at 10.4.

### How many classrooms will Region XII get under the SBP 2026?

The SBP 2026 masterlist has 494 classrooms for Region XII on 174 lines at 168 schools, funded under the GAA 2026 with PHP 1.67 billion. They equal 6.0% of the region's 2023 shortage, against 19.6% nationally; only BARMM has a lower share. The list is a plan; it does not mean the classrooms are built.

### How big is the classroom shortage in Cotabato and Sarangani?

Cotabato province, with Kidapawan City, is short 3,433 classrooms, 41.5% of Region XII's shortage, or 10.7 per 1,000 learners, and its 136 SBP 2026 classrooms equal 4.0% of it. Sarangani is short 1,487 classrooms, 10.4 per 1,000 learners, with 62 SBP 2026 classrooms, 4.2% of its shortage.

## 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 Region XII 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 Region XII, 2023–2026: Rural schools*. NASH Reviewer Blog. https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-12-soccsksargen

## 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

## 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 Region XII: Hotspots by Division](https://nash.com.ph/blog/crla-results-sy-2025-2026-region-12-soccsksargen), [DepEd Classroom and School Building Data, SY 2023-2024](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-classroom-school-building-data-sy-2023-2024), [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 Region XII, 2023–2026: Rural Schools*. NASH Reviewer. https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-12-soccsksargen. 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