DepEd’s School Facilities dataset for SY 2023-2024 shows how many learners share each classroom in public schools and what condition school buildings are in. The dataset comes from the National School Building Inventory (NSBI) and covers the 47,814 public schools with learners.

For each school, the file records its instructional and non-instructional rooms and the condition of each building. It also counts makeshift rooms and temporary learning spaces, lists amenities such as covered courts and flood markers, and records how learners reach the school. Teachers can be hired or moved, but classrooms and buildings cannot, so a school head works with the rooms the school already has.

The companion report, Philippine basic education in numbers, holds the method notes and the data behind every chart.

Key findings

  • Public schools have 35.1 learners per instructional room nationally, by DepEd’s definition (all learners divided by all rooms). The median school has 27.2. NCR (55.1), BARMM (46.4) and Region IV-A (45.1) are the most crowded regions; CAR (24.1) is the least crowded.
  • Only 30% of public school buildings are in good condition. 31% need minor repair, 29% need major repair, 7% are for condemnation and 2% are for demolition. NCR has 53% of its buildings in good condition; BARMM and Region X have 21%.
  • Nearly three in ten public schools (29.1%) use makeshift rooms. Schools report 34,372 makeshift rooms and 11,634 temporary learning spaces nationally. In BARMM, 42% of schools have makeshift rooms.
  • 267 public schools report learners but no instructional room, and 608 have no classroom count at all.
  • Amenities are uneven. 89% of public elementary schools have a school garden and an entrance gate, 71% have a playground, 48% a permanent perimeter fence, 36% a covered court and 4% a gymnasium.

Learners per classroom in public schools

DepEd’s classroom-learner ratio is total enrollment divided by the number of instructional rooms. Only kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms count. Across the 46,939 public schools with learners and at least one instructional room, the national ratio is 35.1, and the median school has 27.2.

The gap between the two figures comes from large schools, as it does for teachers. Half of all learners are in the 11% of schools with more than 1,000 learners, and those schools are the crowded ones.

Four histograms on log scales across public schools in SY 2023-24: pupil-teacher ratio (median 22.7), pupil-classroom ratio (median 27.2), learner-toilet ratio (median 21.7) and academic computers per 100 learners (median 4.3).
Figure 1. How input ratios are spread across public schools, SY 2023-24. The top-right panel is learners per instructional room: median 27.2, 5% of schools above 71.5. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. Download the full-resolution chart (PNG).

Regional differences are wider for classrooms than for teachers. NCR has 55.1 learners per room, and 59.7% of its schools are above 45. BARMM has 46.4 learners per room, with 45.8% of its schools above 45, and Region IV-A has 45.1, with 26.6% above 45. CAR (24.1), Region VIII (27.0), Region VI (27.3) and Region II (27.5) have the fewest learners per room.

Region Public schools Learners per instructional room Schools above 45 learners per room Schools with makeshift rooms Makeshift rooms Temporary learning spaces
NCR 827 55.1 59.7% 11.5% 348 81
BARMM 2,155 46.4 45.8% 42.5% 2,355 733
Region IV-A 3,564 45.1 26.6% 21.6% 2,389 767
Region XII 2,155 36.7 20.7% 40.5% 2,474 1,403
Region VII 2,810 36.5 16.7% 31.8% 2,176 623
Region XI 2,218 36.3 16.9% 36.7% 2,635 1,262
Region X 2,531 36.2 20.3% 34.8% 2,328 519
Region III 3,729 36 16.3% 11.0% 1,043 409
Region IX 2,993 34 17.0% 36.7% 2,695 730
NIR 2,231 32.4 10.7% 37.0% 2,016 409
Region V 3,862 31.2 8.6% 33.1% 2,846 1,270
MIMAROPA 2,382 30.8 12.6% 34.2% 2,076 352
CARAGA 2,099 30.6 11.1% 33.3% 1,546 735
Region I 2,861 28 6.3% 12.2% 938 406
Region II 2,539 27.5 7.0% 16.8% 862 401
Region VI 2,835 27.3 4.6% 25.5% 1,637 413
Region VIII 4,179 26.9 5.4% 34.3% 2,594 705
CAR 1,844 24.1 6.2% 33.5% 1,414 416

A single school can be far from its region’s figure. The 5th percentile across schools is 12.0 learners per room and the 95th percentile is 71.5. 267 public schools report learners but no instructional room, and 608 have no room count. Both groups are left out of the ratio rather than counted as zero.

Condition of public school buildings

The inventory puts every building in one of seven classes:

  • good condition;
  • needs minor repair: components not under structural load, under PHP 50,000;
  • needs major repair: structural components, PHP 50,000 or more;
  • for condemnation: unsafe and unused, but not yet declared so;
  • for demolition: declared dangerous by the city or municipal engineer;
  • ongoing construction; and
  • for completion.
Stacked horizontal bars of public school buildings by condition for each region and the Philippines, SY 2023-24. Nationally 30 percent are in good condition, 31 percent need minor repair, 29 percent need major repair, 7 percent are for condemnation and 2 percent for demolition. NCR has 53 percent in good condition; BARMM and Region X 21 percent.
Figure 2. Condition of public school buildings by region and nationally, SY 2023-24, as a share of all buildings. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. Download the full-resolution chart (PNG).

Public schools have 327,759 buildings. Of these, 29.6% are in good condition, 31.5% need minor repair and 29.3% need major repair. Another 6.8% are for condemnation, 2.0% are for demolition, and 0.8% are under construction or awaiting completion. In other words, 38% of public school buildings need major repair or are unsafe.

NCR (53.2% in good condition) and Region III (43.1%) have the best buildings. BARMM (20.5% in good condition), Region X (20.9%) and NIR (22.2%) have the worst. In BARMM, 38.7% of buildings need minor repair, and in Region X, 15.1% are for condemnation. CAR has the highest share needing major repair, 36.0%.

Region Buildings Good condition Needs minor repair Needs major repair For condemnation For demolition Under construction For completion
BARMM 8,728 20.5% 38.7% 32.8% 5.1% 0.9% 0.6% 1.5%
CAR 8,283 31.8% 19.5% 36.0% 7.7% 3.9% 0.6% 0.6%
CARAGA 13,790 24.6% 31.4% 34.8% 6.1% 1.7% 0.7% 0.6%
MIMAROPA 16,123 30.7% 36.4% 26.7% 4.3% 0.9% 0.3% 0.8%
NCR 4,172 53.2% 24.2% 16.1% 4.7% 0.4% 0.9% 0.5%
NIR 18,377 22.2% 34.4% 36.4% 5.3% 0.9% 0.4% 0.4%
Region I 21,868 31.4% 27.6% 30.5% 8.6% 1.3% 0.3% 0.3%
Region II 18,230 28.7% 29.8% 31.3% 4.4% 4.6% 0.4% 0.7%
Region III 30,472 43.1% 24.4% 22.9% 6.6% 2.2% 0.6% 0.2%
Region IV-A 29,330 31.5% 30.0% 26.3% 8.5% 2.9% 0.5% 0.4%
Region IX 16,655 28.2% 31.2% 31.5% 5.7% 2.8% 0.4% 0.3%
Region V 29,092 29.1% 35.4% 28.0% 5.3% 1.9% 0.2% 0.1%
Region VI 20,787 26.8% 34.7% 32.1% 4.6% 1.0% 0.3% 0.5%
Region VII 18,559 27.7% 35.9% 28.8% 5.6% 1.3% 0.3% 0.5%
Region VIII 23,923 27.6% 38.6% 28.0% 4.6% 0.6% 0.4% 0.2%
Region X 17,730 20.9% 25.3% 32.7% 15.1% 4.8% 0.6% 0.5%
Region XI 16,316 29.2% 30.2% 27.6% 10.0% 1.9% 0.4% 0.6%
Region XII 15,324 29.6% 32.2% 27.7% 8.2% 1.6% 0.3% 0.3%
Philippines (public) 327,759 29.6% 31.5% 29.3% 6.8% 2.0% 0.4% 0.4%

Makeshift rooms and temporary learning spaces

Makeshift rooms are classrooms built from non-standard or salvaged materials. Temporary learning spaces are structures given to schools hit by calamities while permanent classrooms are built. Both are in wide use.

Public schools report 34,372 makeshift rooms, and 29.1% of schools have at least one. The share is 42.5% in BARMM, 40.5% in Region XII, 37.0% in NIR, 36.7% in Region XI and 36.7% in Region IX. Schools also use 11,634 temporary learning spaces, most of them in Region XII (1,403), Region V (1,270) and Region XI (1,262).

Amenities and access in public elementary schools

The facilities file records amenities separately for the elementary and the high school parts of a school. Among the 39,340 public elementary schools with data, 89.0% have a school garden and 88.9% an entrance gate. 70.8% have a playground and 48.1% a permanent perimeter fence. Fewer have a paved pathway (38.0%), a covered court (36.3%), a solar panel (14.0%), a flood marker (4.6%) or a gymnasium (3.9%).

Horizontal bar chart of the share of public elementary schools with each amenity or access type, SY 2023-24: school garden 89 percent, entrance gate 89, playground 71, permanent perimeter fence 48, paved pathway 38, covered court 36, solar panel 14, flood marker 5, gymnasium 4; among schools with access data, reachable on foot 86 percent, by private 4-wheel vehicle 84, paved road 73, tricycle 70, habal-habal 66, boat 10.
Figure 3. Amenities and access, public elementary schools, SY 2023-24. Access rows are for the 2,344 schools with access data. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. Download the full-resolution chart (PNG).

Only 2,344 elementary schools reported access data, so the access shares describe those schools rather than the country. Of them, 86.4% can be reached on foot, 83.7% by private four-wheel vehicle and 72.9% by paved road. 69.8% can be reached by tricycle, 65.9% by habal-habal and 10.2% by boat.

Amenity or access Share of public elementary schools Schools with data
Covered court 36.3% 39,340
Gymnasium 3.9% 39,340
Permanent perimeter fence 48.1% 39,340
Entrance gate 88.9% 39,340
Playground 70.8% 39,340
School garden 89.0% 39,340
Solar panel 14.0% 39,340
Paved pathway 38.0% 39,340
Flood marker 4.6% 39,340
Paved road access 72.9% 2,344
Reachable by private 4-wheel vehicle 83.7% 2,344
Reachable by tricycle 69.8% 2,344
Reachable by boat 10.2% 2,344
Reachable by habal-habal 65.9% 2,344
Reachable on foot 86.4% 2,344

Classroom crowding and test results

In the five regions with test data, the pupil-classroom ratio shows no detectable association with Grade 3 Early Language, Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (ELLNA) or Grade 6 National Achievement Test (NAT) results once schools are compared within the same division. It shows only a weak negative association with Grade 1 to 3 reading levels. The binned chart below shows the Grade 3 pattern: a gentle downward slope that stays within about two points of the division mean across the whole range of crowding.

In these files, crowded classrooms are a welfare and safety problem before they are a measurable test-score problem. The analysis of school inputs and test results has the full models.

Three binned scatter plots of Grade 3 ELLNA scores, as deviations from the division mean, against the pupil-teacher ratio, the pupil-classroom ratio and academic computers per 100 learners. The first two slope gently downward within about two points; the third shows no pattern.
Figure 4. Grade 3 ELLNA scores as deviations from the division mean, against three inputs, in twenty equal-count bins of schools. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. Download the full-resolution chart (PNG).

What this means for school heads

  1. Count rooms the way the NSBI does. Only instructional rooms count. A library or a faculty room does not lower the ratio.
  2. Know the classification of each building. A building marked for condemnation is unsafe and unused, and a school head who keeps classes in one is responsible for the risk. The repair categories decide a school’s place in the Basic Education Facilities Fund queue.
  3. Makeshift rooms are common and should be temporary. Three in ten schools have them. The school’s plan should say when and how each one will be replaced.
  4. Amenities are usually community projects. Fences, covered courts and gardens are where PTA and LGU contributions appear in the data.

How these numbers were made

  • Source: DepEd’s School Facilities dataset for SY 2023-2024 (NSBI), joined to the learner file on school ID; public schools only.
  • Pupil-classroom ratio = total enrollment ÷ (elementary + junior-high + senior-high instructional rooms), for schools with both above zero; regional ratios are sums over sums.
  • Building shares are each category’s count divided by all buildings in the region.
  • Amenity shares are for the 39,340 public schools with elementary learners and amenity data; access shares for the 2,344 with access data.
  • 669 public elementary schools with no classroom count are missing for the elementary ratio, never zero.

Limits

The NSBI covers public schools only, so there is no facilities data for private schools. The file has no seat counts, so DepEd’s seat-learner ratio cannot be computed. Room counts are by level and cannot be split by grade. School heads report building condition themselves against DepEd’s definitions, and few schools fill in the access fields.

Frequently asked questions

How many learners per classroom are there in DepEd public schools?

Public schools had 35.1 learners per instructional room nationally in SY 2023-2024, counting all learners over all instructional rooms. The median school has 27.2. NCR (55.1) and BARMM (46.4) are the most crowded regions.

What share of DepEd school buildings need repair?

70% of public school buildings were not in good condition in SY 2023-2024. 31% need minor repair, 29% need major repair, 7% are for condemnation and 2% are for demolition.

How many DepEd schools use makeshift classrooms?

29.1% of public schools have at least one makeshift room. Schools use 34,372 makeshift rooms nationally. By share of schools, BARMM, Region XII and NIR have the most.

Download the data

The cleaned, harmonized DepEd files behind this series are free to download in CSV and Parquet, with a codebook and checksums, under the terms of use set out in the release. Download Cleaned DepEd School Data, SY 2017-18 to 2025-26 documents every file and column. The files themselves are at data.nash.com.ph, starting with the README, the SY 2023-24 school master file (CSV, 8.0 MB) and the nine-year enrollment panel (Parquet, 17.2 MB).

More in this series

Guides for aspiring school heads

Analysis and charts by Mark Anthony Llego for NASH Reviewer. Data: Department of Education public datasets. Charts may be reused only with written permission from support@nash.com.ph.