# How Learners Reach Public High Schools: Boat, Habal-Habal By their 2023 reports, 9.5% of public high schools can be reached by boat and 767 (7.3%) by no four-wheel vehicle; fewer of these get SBP 2026 classrooms. This is the Markdown copy of [How Learners Reach Public High Schools: Boat, Habal-Habal](https://nash.com.ph/blog/how-learners-reach-public-high-schools), 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. > **Note** > > **What these data cover.** DepEd's 2023 school facilities data, as published in the EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard, record which modes of transport can reach each school. The high school questions were answered by 98.1% of public schools with a junior or senior high level; the figures below cover the 10,519 that ticked at least one mode, not the 91 that ticked none. The elementary questions were answered by only 2,347 public schools, mainly integrated schools, so stand-alone elementary schools are not described. The fields say whether a mode can reach a school, not how many learners use it, how long the trip takes or what it costs, and they are the schools' own reports for 2023. A ticked mode is stored as "yes" and an unticked one is left blank, so a blank is read here as "not reachable that way". Read as unknown instead, blanks would raise the share of schools reachable by boat from 9.5% to 33.1%; the method section explains why the first reading is used. Most public high schools in the Philippines can be reached in several ways. By their own 2023 reports, 95.9% of the 10,519 public schools with a high school level can be reached by private motorcycle, 92.1% by private car or van, 91.2% on foot, 83.8% by tricycle and 66.9% by habal-habal, the motorcycle for hire common on rough rural roads. 999 schools, 9.5%, can be reached by boat. But 767 high schools, 7.3%, are reached by no four-wheel vehicle at all: no car, van, jeepney, UV Express or bus. For 592 of them a motorcycle or tricycle is the only motor vehicle that gets there, and 175 are reached by no motor vehicle on a road, 127 of those by boat. These hard-to-reach high schools gather in a few places: Region VIII has the highest share, 15.7% of its high schools, then MIMAROPA, 13.4%, and Samar has the most of any province, 42. Compared with schools a four-wheel vehicle reaches, they are more often Last Mile Schools, rural and short of classrooms, and more of them use makeshift rooms, 48.1% against 31.1%. Among high schools with a 2023 classroom shortage, those no motor vehicle reaches by road are the least often on the School Building Program (SBP) 2026 list: 7.4%, against 17.9% of those a four-wheel vehicle reaches. The figures come from DepEd's 2023 facilities data and the school table from the EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard. Every file behind them is listed on the [EDCOM II classroom data page](https://nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data). ## Key findings - By their 2023 reports, 95.9% of the 10,519 public schools with a high school level can be reached by private motorcycle, 91.2% on foot, 66.9% by habal-habal and 9.5% (999 schools) by boat. - No four-wheel vehicle reaches 767 high schools, 7.3%: at 592 only a motorcycle or tricycle gets there, and 76.2% of those name habal-habal; 175 are reached by no motor vehicle on a road, and 72.6% of those can be reached by boat. - Only 36.1% of the hard-to-reach high schools report a paved road, against 87.5% of the schools a four-wheel vehicle reaches. - Region VIII has the highest share of high schools no four-wheel vehicle reaches, 15.7%, then MIMAROPA, 13.4%; Region VIII (24.0%) and Region V (22.7%) have the highest shares reachable by boat, and Samar has the most hard-to-reach high schools of any province, 42. - Hard-to-reach high schools are 3.09 times as likely as others to be Last Mile Schools and 1.54 times as likely to use makeshift rooms (48.1% against 31.1%), and somewhat more often have a classroom shortage (73.8% against 67.8%). - They are smaller, with a median of 251 learners against 520, and fewer run two or more shifts (1.8% against 9.3%) or have a building for condemnation or demolition (19.0% against 28.0%). - Among high schools with a 2023 shortage, 7.4% of those no motor vehicle reaches by road and 11.0% of those reached only by motorcycle or tricycle are on the SBP 2026 list, against 17.9% of those a four-wheel vehicle reaches. ## Which modes of transport reach public high schools DepEd's facilities form lists twelve modes of transport and asks the school to tick each one that can reach it. The chart shows how many of the 10,519 public high schools ticked each mode. ![Horizontal bars of the share of 10,519 public schools with a high school level that each mode of transport can reach, as the schools reported in 2023: private motorcycle 95.9%, private car or van 92.1%, walking or hiking 91.2%, tricycle 83.8%, bicycle 73.7%, habal-habal 66.9%, jeepney 66.4%, pedicab 53.5%, UV Express 46.4%, bus 42.7%, boat 9.5% and train 0.7%. Walking, habal-habal and boat are highlighted.](https://nash.com.ph/blog/_astro/how-learners-reach-high-schools-modes.CBRPi5Jj_ZgG2jv.webp) *Figure 1. Share of public schools with a high school level that each mode of transport can reach, as the schools reported in 2023; the number of schools in parentheses. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. [Download the full-resolution chart (PNG)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/how-learners-reach-high-schools-modes.png).* A motorcycle reaches almost every public high school: 95.9%, or 10,092 schools. A private car or van reaches 92.1% and walking or hiking 91.2%, and tricycles reach 83.8%. Public transport on four wheels reaches fewer: jeepneys 66.4%, UV Express 46.4% and buses 42.7%. Habal-habal reaches 66.9% of high schools, about as many as jeepneys. Boats reach 9.5%, or 999 schools, and trains 0.7%, or 70. The median school ticked seven of the twelve modes. These are the modes that can reach a school, not the ones learners use. A school reachable by bus may be one where most learners walk, and a school that ticked walking may sit at the end of a long hike. The form also does not say whether a mode works all year. | Mode | Schools | Share of schools | Share if blanks are unknown | Blank | |:-------------------|----------:|-------------------:|------------------------------:|--------:| | Walking or hiking | 9,589 | 91.2% | 97.1% | 648 | | Private motorcycle | 10,092 | 95.9% | 98.4% | 258 | | Private car or van | 9,688 | 92.1% | 96.9% | 520 | | Tricycle | 8,817 | 83.8% | 93.2% | 1,058 | | Habal-habal | 7,035 | 66.9% | 90.5% | 2,748 | | Bicycle | 7,755 | 73.7% | 90.4% | 1,936 | | Jeepney | 6,989 | 66.4% | 87.4% | 2,526 | | Pedicab | 5,625 | 53.5% | 81.4% | 3,609 | | UV Express | 4,886 | 46.4% | 77.8% | 4,235 | | Bus | 4,495 | 42.7% | 75.0% | 4,528 | | Boat | 999 | 9.5% | 33.1% | 7,502 | | Train | 70 | 0.7% | 3.0% | 8,200 | The last two columns show the other reading. "Blank" counts the schools that left a mode's box empty, and "Share if blanks are unknown" sets those schools aside and divides by the rest. For common modes the two readings are close: private motorcycle 95.9% against 98.4%. For rare modes they are far apart, because most schools left the box empty: 7,502 schools left the boat box blank, and with them set aside the boat share is 33.1% instead of 9.5%. The explicit "no" answers come mainly from schools that also filled in the elementary questions, so the base left after setting blanks aside holds those schools and every school that ticked "yes", and it tilts the shares upward. A blank is therefore read here as "no", the reading the form's tick boxes suggest, and the other column shows how much the choice matters. ## Three access groups: four-wheel vehicle, motorcycle only, no motor vehicle Sorting each high school by the most a road vehicle can do shows which schools are hardest to reach: - **Four-wheel vehicle.** A private car or van, jeepney, UV Express or bus can reach the school: 9,752 schools, 92.7%. - **Motorcycle or tricycle only.** No four-wheel vehicle reaches the school, but a private motorcycle, habal-habal or tricycle does: 592 schools, 5.6%. Habal-habal is the usual mode here: 76.2% of these schools ticked it. - **No motor vehicle by road.** Neither reaches the school; it is reached on foot, by bicycle or by boat: 175 schools, 1.7%. Of these, 72.6%, or 127 schools, can be reached by boat, and 47 can be reached on foot alone. The second and third groups together are the 767 high schools, 7.3%, that no four-wheel vehicle reaches. They are called hard-to-reach high schools here. The term describes only what the form records; it is not DepEd's classification, and it is not the same as the Last Mile School list, as the comparison below shows. Boat access and hard-to-reach are not the same either. Of the 999 high schools reachable by boat, 872 can also be reached by a motor vehicle on a road; for the other 127, no motor vehicle on a road gets there. For a school on a small island or across a river, the boat may be the everyday route even where a road also reaches the school, and the form cannot show which route learners take. ### Roads to public high schools: paved and unpaved The form also asks what kinds of road lead to the school, and a school may tick more than one. | Road to the school | Schools | Share of the 10,519 high schools | |:-------------------|--------:|---------------------------------:| | Paved | 8,810 | 83.8% | | Leveled | 4,356 | 41.4% | | Rough | 3,551 | 33.8% | | Unpaved | 2,911 | 27.7% | | Under construction | 1,344 | 12.8% | Most high schools, 83.8%, report a paved road. Another 90 ticked no kind of road at all, which may mean that no road reaches them or that the question was skipped. The difference between the access groups is sharp: only 36.1% of the 767 hard-to-reach high schools report a paved road, against 87.5% of the schools a four-wheel vehicle reaches. Most hard-to-reach high schools report no paved road at all. ## Hard-to-reach high schools by region and province The chart splits each region's public high schools into the three access groups, with the share that no four-wheel vehicle reaches at the right. ![Stacked horizontal bars splitting each region's public high schools into those a four-wheel vehicle reaches, those only a motorcycle or tricycle reaches, and those no motor vehicle reaches by road. The share no four-wheel vehicle reaches is lowest in NCR, 0.6%, and highest in Region VIII, 15.7%, and MIMAROPA, 13.4%, with Region V close behind.](https://nash.com.ph/blog/_astro/how-learners-reach-high-schools-by-region.Dfz041_g_Z1Uvc80.webp) *Figure 2. Public high schools by region and access group: a four-wheel vehicle, only a motorcycle or tricycle, or no motor vehicle by road, as the schools reported in 2023; at right, the share no four-wheel vehicle reaches. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. [Download the full-resolution chart (PNG)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/how-learners-reach-high-schools-by-region.png).* Region VIII stands out: no four-wheel vehicle reaches 15.7% of its public high schools. In 11.3% only a motorcycle or tricycle gets there, and 4.4% are reached by no motor vehicle on a road, the highest share of any region. MIMAROPA follows at 13.4%, with 4.2% reached by no motor vehicle, and Region V comes next, where a four-wheel vehicle reaches 87.2% of high schools. At the other end, NCR has the lowest share, 0.6%. | Region | Schools | Four-wheel vehicle | Motorcycle or tricycle only | No motor vehicle by road | Reachable by boat | Reachable by habal-habal | |:------------|----------:|---------------------:|------------------------------:|---------------------------:|--------------------:|---------------------------:| | NCR | 331 | 99.4% | 0.6% | 0.0% | 2.7% | 55.0% | | CAR | 368 | 95.9% | 1.4% | 2.7% | 1.1% | 31.8% | | Region I | 598 | 98.5% | 1.2% | 0.3% | 4.8% | 38.5% | | Region II | 510 | 95.7% | 3.5% | 0.8% | 9.4% | 27.1% | | Region III | 901 | 97.0% | 1.8% | 1.2% | 4.9% | 16.0% | | Region IV-A | 877 | 95.7% | 4.1% | 0.2% | 7.8% | 34.3% | | MIMAROPA | 471 | 86.6% | 9.1% | 4.2% | 21.0% | 48.6% | | Region V | 779 | 87.2% | 10.0% | 2.8% | 22.7% | 85.9% | | Region VI | 571 | 92.8% | 4.9% | 2.3% | 8.1% | 81.8% | | NIR | 545 | 93.8% | 5.7% | 0.6% | 3.7% | 79.6% | | Region VII | 748 | 93.0% | 5.3% | 1.6% | 8.0% | 94.1% | | Region VIII | 638 | 84.3% | 11.3% | 4.4% | 24.0% | 91.5% | | Region IX | 519 | 90.9% | 7.7% | 1.3% | 11.2% | 91.1% | | Region X | 634 | 95.1% | 4.3% | 0.6% | 2.2% | 91.0% | | Region XI | 630 | 89.8% | 8.7% | 1.4% | 3.7% | 89.7% | | Region XII | 634 | 90.9% | 8.5% | 0.6% | 3.3% | 95.6% | | CARAGA | 464 | 91.4% | 4.5% | 4.1% | 17.0% | 87.3% | | BARMM | 301 | 92.0% | 6.3% | 1.7% | 15.6% | 69.8% | Boats matter most in the island and coastal regions: 24.0% of Region VIII's high schools and 22.7% of Region V's can be reached by boat, then MIMAROPA (21.0%), CARAGA (17.0%) and BARMM (15.6%). In CAR, by contrast, the schools no motor vehicle reaches (2.7%) are mostly not boat schools, since only 1.1% of CAR's high schools can be reached by boat. Habal-habal is ticked by 16.0% of high schools in Region III and by more than nine in ten in Regions VII, VIII, IX, X and XII. Sulu is counted in Region IX here, since its schools division moved to DepEd Region IX on 20 October 2026. The regional reports read each region's schools in detail: [Region VIII](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-8-eastern-visayas), [MIMAROPA](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-mimaropa) and [Region V](https://nash.com.ph/blog/classroom-shortage-region-5-bicol). By province, Samar has the most high schools that no four-wheel vehicle reaches, 42, or 27.5% of its high schools. Northern Samar has fewer, 29, but the highest share among the ten, 33.7%. | Province or city | High schools no four-wheel vehicle reaches | Share of the province's high schools | |:-------------------|---------------------------------------------:|---------------------------------------:| | Samar | 42 | 27.5% | | Masbate | 36 | 21.7% | | Palawan | 35 | 19.9% | | Camarines Sur | 31 | 12.0% | | Northern Samar | 29 | 33.7% | | Quezon | 28 | 12.8% | | Sarangani | 28 | 21.5% | | Cebu | 25 | 5.7% | | Iloilo | 25 | 9.4% | | City of Davao | 24 | 13.8% | Four of the ten are in Region V (Masbate and Camarines Sur) and Region VIII (Samar and Northern Samar), and Palawan is in MIMAROPA. Cebu and Iloilo appear on the strength of their many high schools; the share in each is lower, 5.7% and 9.4%. The City of Davao, a highly urbanized city counted on its own, has 24, a reminder that a city can take in remote areas too. ## How hard-to-reach high schools compare Are hard-to-reach high schools different from the others in ways that matter for classrooms? The chart and table set the 767 schools that no four-wheel vehicle reaches beside the 9,752 that a four-wheel vehicle reaches. ![Dot plot comparing public high schools no four-wheel vehicle reaches with the others. Hard-to-reach schools are more often Last Mile Schools (19.9% against 6.5%), rural (83.3% against 65.8%), short of classrooms (73.8% against 67.8%) and users of makeshift rooms (48.1% against 31.1%); fewer have a building for condemnation or demolition (19.0% against 28.0%), run two or more shifts (1.8% against 9.3%) or get SBP 2026 classrooms (9.9% against 15.6%).](https://nash.com.ph/blog/_astro/how-learners-reach-high-schools-hard-to-reach.D0ClCx2H_vNef5.webp) *Figure 3. Share of public high schools with each condition, for schools no four-wheel vehicle reaches and for the others. Chart: © 2026 Mark Anthony Llego, NASH Reviewer. [Download the full-resolution chart (PNG)](https://nash.com.ph/blog/charts/deped-data/how-learners-reach-high-schools-hard-to-reach.png).* | Indicator | No four-wheel vehicle reaches the school | A four-wheel vehicle reaches the school | Risk ratio (95% interval) | |:----------------------------------------------|:-------------------------------------------|:------------------------------------------|:----------------------------| | Last Mile School | 19.9% (153 of 767) | 6.5% (630 of 9,752) | 3.09 (2.63 to 3.63) | | Rural | 83.3% (639 of 767) | 65.8% (6,417 of 9,752) | 1.27 (1.22 to 1.31) | | Has a classroom shortage (2023) | 73.8% (556 of 753) | 67.8% (6,516 of 9,611) | 1.09 (1.04 to 1.14) | | Uses makeshift rooms (2023) | 48.1% (369 of 767) | 31.1% (3,037 of 9,752) | 1.54 (1.43 to 1.67) | | Has a building for condemnation or demolition | 19.0% (146 of 767) | 28.0% (2,731 of 9,752) | 0.68 (0.59 to 0.79) | | Runs two or more shifts (SY 2024-25) | 1.8% (14 of 767) | 9.3% (908 of 9,752) | 0.20 (0.12 to 0.33) | | Gets SBP 2026 classrooms | 9.9% (76 of 767) | 15.6% (1,519 of 9,752) | 0.64 (0.51 to 0.79) | The last column is a risk ratio: the share of hard-to-reach schools with the condition divided by the share of other schools with it. A ratio of 1 means the two shares are equal; 3.09 means hard-to-reach schools are 3.09 times as likely to have the condition; a ratio below 1 means they are less likely. The 95% interval, computed with the log method of Katz and colleagues (1978), shows how precisely the ratio is known. When the whole interval lies above 1, or wholly below it, the difference is clear; when it includes 1, the data cannot tell the groups apart. Every interval in this table lies clear of 1. In plain words: - **Last Mile Schools.** 19.9% of hard-to-reach high schools are Last Mile Schools, against 6.5% of the others, a risk ratio of 3.09 (2.63 to 3.63). Last Mile Schools are in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged and Conflict-Affected Areas (GIDCAs) and hardship posts (EDCOM II, 2026). Still, the two lists are far from the same: most hard-to-reach high schools are not Last Mile Schools, and 80.5% of the Last Mile Schools among these high schools can be reached by a four-wheel vehicle. The 767 hard-to-reach schools hold 19.5% of them. - **Rural.** 83.3% are rural, against 65.8% (1.27, 1.22 to 1.31). - **Classroom shortage.** 73.8% had a 2023 classroom shortage, against 67.8% (1.09, 1.04 to 1.14): somewhat more often. Although they are smaller, their median shortage is larger, 2.0 classrooms against 1.6. - **Makeshift rooms.** 48.1% used at least one makeshift room in 2023, against 31.1% (1.54, 1.43 to 1.67). Nearly half of hard-to-reach high schools were holding some classes in rooms not built as classrooms. - **Buildings for condemnation or demolition.** 19.0% have one, against 28.0% (0.68, 0.59 to 0.79). - **Shifts.** 1.8% ran two or more shifts in SY 2024-25, against 9.3% (0.20, 0.12 to 0.33), about a fifth as often. The rows on condemned buildings and shifts need a careful reading. Lower shares do not mean these schools are better off. Both are likely to go with size: the median hard-to-reach high school had 251 learners in SY 2024-25, against 520 at the others, and a small school has fewer learners to fit into its rooms, so it seldom needs shifts, and fewer buildings that could be marked for condemnation. Hard-to-reach schools are also less crowded, with a median of 26.8 learners per classroom against 30.9 (SY 2024-25 learners over 2023 classrooms). Their need shows elsewhere in the table: in makeshift rooms and in the shortage, more than in crowding or shifts. ## Hard-to-reach high schools and the SBP 2026 list The SBP 2026 masterlist, as published in the EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard, names the schools that are to receive classrooms. It includes PSIP III, the third Public-Private Partnership for School Infrastructure Project, still for bidding, with construction expected from March 2027 to July 2028; every SBP classroom is a plan, not a building. Across all 10,519 high schools, 9.9% of hard-to-reach schools have SBP 2026 classrooms, against 15.6% of the others, a risk ratio of 0.64 (0.51 to 0.79). A school with no shortage would not be expected on the list, so the fairer comparison looks only at high schools with a 2023 shortage: | Access | High schools with a shortage | With SBP 2026 classrooms | Share (95% interval) | |:----------------------------|-------------------------------:|---------------------------:|:-----------------------| | Four-wheel vehicle | 6,516 | 1,166 | 17.9% (17.0% to 18.8%) | | Motorcycle or tricycle only | 420 | 46 | 11.0% (8.3% to 14.3%) | | No motor vehicle by road | 136 | 10 | 7.4% (4.0% to 13.0%) | Among high schools with a shortage, 17.9% of those a four-wheel vehicle reaches are on the list, 11.0% of those reached only by motorcycle or tricycle, and 7.4% of those no motor vehicle reaches by road. The intervals are Wilson score intervals (Wilson, 1927): ranges of plausible values for each share, which stay accurate for small groups and small shares. What do the intervals allow? The four-wheel group is large, so its interval is narrow, 17.0% to 18.8%. The two hard-to-reach groups are small, 420 and 136 schools, so their intervals are wide. Both lie wholly below 17.0%, so the gap between hard-to-reach schools and the others is larger than chance alone would readily produce. But the two hard-to-reach groups overlap widely, 8.3% to 14.3% against 4.0% to 13.0%, so the data cannot say whether schools no motor vehicle reaches are truly less often on the list than schools a motorcycle reaches; the order between those two may be chance. The 7.4% rests on 10 schools. The data do not show why fewer hard-to-reach schools are on the list. Building is harder where materials must come by boat or along a footpath, but these data do not measure that, nor do they show how the list was drawn up. Two other posts look at options built for such schools: [Last Mile Schools: Classroom Need and 2026 Allocation](https://nash.com.ph/blog/last-mile-schools-classroom-shortage) reads the Last Mile School list and its SBP lines, and [How Much Does a Classroom Cost in the Philippines?](https://nash.com.ph/blog/cost-to-build-classroom-philippines) shows that the scope of DepEd's Last Mile School lines usually also lists furniture, solar power, water and toilets. [DepEd Learning Continuity Spaces in the SBP 2026 List](https://nash.com.ph/blog/learning-continuity-spaces-sbp-2026) describes the prefabricated units DepEd installs. ## What this means for school heads and division staff - **Record how your school is reached, in full.** The facilities form records only yes or no for each mode. In your [school improvement plan and AIP](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-school-improvement-plan), and in any request for classrooms or repairs, describe the route: the modes, the kind of road, any boat crossing or footpath, the travel time, and how the rainy season or rough seas change it. Photos and dated notes make the record stronger. - **Check your school's entry in the data.** Download the facilities table and filter it by your school ID in `school_id_current`: the `hs_accessible_*` columns show the modes your school ticked in 2023, and `hs_has_road_*` the roads. An unticked box is read as "not reachable", so a school that can be reached by boat or habal-habal but left the box empty looks easier to reach than it is. Make sure the next facilities report is complete. - **Plan building work around access, with the division and the LGU.** If materials must come by boat or along a footpath, say so early, so that the division, the implementing office and the LGU can plan hauling, storage and timing. Bring the access record to the local school board, and use Brigada Eskwela to rally parents, the barangay and partners for footpath, landing or road repairs. - **Plan for learner safety and attendance.** Where learners come by boat, habal-habal or on foot, agree with parents, the barangay and the LGU's disaster risk reduction office on what happens when boats cannot sail or roads flood. Keep attendance records that mark those days, so that absences can be read in context and remedial plans can follow. - **Compare like with like.** In a thesis, an action research paper or a division report, compare a hard-to-reach school with schools in the same access group and region, using the tables above, rather than with the national average. [How to Read DepEd Data: A Guide for Aspiring School Heads](https://nash.com.ph/blog/how-to-read-deped-data) explains how to read such tables. - **Ask how access is weighed.** Only 19.9% of hard-to-reach high schools are Last Mile Schools. If your school is hard to reach, ask your division whether it is on the Last Mile School list and how access is considered in classroom planning. ## How these numbers were made The data are DepEd's 2023 school facilities table and the school table from the EDCOM II classroom construction dashboard, with the SBP 2026 masterlist, cleaned for this series; [How the EDCOM Classroom Data Was Cleaned](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-classroom-data-cleaned) documents every cleaning rule. The analysis was done in Python with pandas and NumPy, and the charts drawn with Matplotlib. - **Schools.** The facilities table has 47,818 public rows (`sector` "Public"). Of these, 10,610 answered at least one high school access question, all of them schools with a junior or senior high level; they are 98.1% of the 10,819 public schools with such a level in the school table. The 91 that ticked no mode at all are left out, leaving 10,519. The elementary access questions were answered by 2,347 public schools, mainly integrated schools that also answered the high school questions, so they are not used. No private school's answers to the high school access questions are in the table. - **Modes.** Twelve columns, `hs_accessible_walking_hiking` to `hs_accessible_train`. A mode counts as reaching the school when it is ticked; a blank or an explicit "no" counts as not reaching it. As a check, each mode's share is also computed with blanks set aside (the "Share if blanks are unknown" column). - **Access groups.** Four-wheel vehicle: a private car or van, UV Express, jeepney or bus is ticked. Motorcycle or tricycle only: none of those, but a private motorcycle, habal-habal or tricycle. No motor vehicle by road: neither. "Hard to reach" means the second or third group. Reached on foot alone means walking is ticked and no motor vehicle, boat, bicycle or pedicab is. - **Roads.** The five `hs_has_road_*` columns (paved, leveled, rough, unpaved, under construction), each counted when ticked; a school may tick several. - **Joining.** Each school is joined to the school table by its current ID (`school_id_current` to `school_id`); all 10,519 join. Region and province come from the school table, with Sulu in Region IX. - **Comparison.** Last Mile School from `last_mile_school`; rural from `urban_rural`; a shortage when the 2023 `shortage_total` is above zero, among schools in the 2023 shortage table (753 hard-to-reach and 9,611 other schools); makeshift rooms when the 2023 elementary and high school makeshift room counts add up to at least one; a building for condemnation or demolition when `buildings_condemn_demolish` is above zero; shifts from `multi_shift` (SY 2024-25); SBP 2026 classrooms when `sbp_classrooms` is above zero. Medians of SY 2024-25 enrollment, the 2023 shortage and learners per classroom (`learners_per_classroom_all`) are computed for each group. - **Risk ratios.** The share with the condition among hard-to-reach schools divided by the share among the others, with a 95% interval from the log method (Katz et al., 1978). - **SBP 2026 by access group.** Among schools with a 2023 shortage above zero, the share with any SBP 2026 classroom, with a 95% Wilson score interval (Wilson, 1927). ## Limits The facilities fields record whether a mode can reach a school, not how many learners use it, how far they travel, how long the trip takes, what it costs or how safe it is. They do not record seasons: a road a jeepney uses in the dry months may be impassable in the rainy season, and a boat route may close in rough seas. A school that ticked a four-wheel vehicle may still have learners who walk for hours from distant sitios. The answers are the schools' own reports for 2023. Schools may read the questions differently, for example what counts as "walking or hiking", and roads may have been built, paved or washed out since. A blank is read as "not reachable that way"; if some schools left a box blank that they meant to tick, the shares here are too low, and the column with blanks set aside shows how much the reading matters. The 91 schools that ticked no mode are left out. The post covers public schools with a high school level. Stand-alone elementary schools did not answer these questions, and some of them may be among the hardest to reach. The access groups are this post's own grouping, not DepEd's, and the two smaller groups, 592 and 175 schools, give wide intervals. The years differ: facilities, the shortage and makeshift rooms are from 2023, enrollment and shifts from SY 2024-25, and allocations from 2026, with PSIP III construction expected from March 2027 to July 2028. Allocations are plans, not buildings. All results are associations: they show how access lines up with the shortage and the SBP 2026 list on paper, not why any school was or was not listed. ## Frequently asked questions ### How do learners get to public high schools in the Philippines? By their own 2023 reports, 95.9% of the 10,519 public schools with a high school level can be reached by private motorcycle, 92.1% by private car or van, 91.2% on foot, 83.8% by tricycle, 66.9% by habal-habal and 9.5% by boat. The data record which modes can reach a school, not which ones learners use. ### How many public high schools can only be reached by boat or on foot? 175 public high schools are reached by no motor vehicle on a road, by their 2023 reports. Of these, 127 can be reached by boat and 47 on foot alone. In all, 999 high schools can be reached by boat, but 872 of them can also be reached by a motor vehicle on a road. ### What is habal-habal, and how many schools does it reach? Habal-habal is a motorcycle for hire, common on rough rural and upland roads. 66.9% of public high schools can be reached by habal-habal, and in Region XII 95.6% can. Among the 592 high schools that only a motorcycle or tricycle reaches, 76.2% ticked habal-habal. ### Do hard-to-reach schools get SBP 2026 classrooms? Less often than others. Among public high schools with a 2023 classroom shortage, 7.4% of those no motor vehicle reaches by road and 11.0% of those reached only by motorcycle or tricycle have SBP 2026 classrooms, against 17.9% of those a four-wheel vehicle reaches. The data do not show why. ## 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 figure in this post can be computed from the [facilities table](https://data.nash.com.ph/edcom-classroom-data/v1.1/facilities_2023.csv.gz) (CSV), using `sector` and the `hs_accessible_*` and `hs_has_road_*` columns, joined by `school_id_current` to the school table's `school_id` for `deped_region`, `province`, `last_mile_school`, `urban_rural`, `shortage_total`, `es_makeshift_rooms`, `hs_makeshift_rooms`, `buildings_condemn_demolish`, `multi_shift`, `enrol_total` and `sbp_classrooms`. 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). *How learners reach public high schools: Boat, habal-habal*. NASH Reviewer Blog. https://nash.com.ph/blog/how-learners-reach-public-high-schools ## References - Katz, D., Baptista, J., Azen, S. P., & Pike, M. C. (1978). Obtaining confidence intervals for the risk ratio in cohort studies. *Biometrics, 34*(3), 469–474. - 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). (2026). *National Education Plan 2026–2035* (Year Three report). - Wilson, E. B. (1927). Probable inference, the law of succession, and statistical inference. *Journal of the American Statistical Association, 22*(158), 209–212. ## 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: [DepEd Classroom and School Building Data, SY 2023-2024](https://nash.com.ph/blog/deped-classroom-school-building-data-sy-2023-2024), [EDCOM II Final Report: Guide for Aspiring School Heads](https://nash.com.ph/blog/edcom-ii-final-report), [National Education Plan 2026-2035: Guide for School Heads](https://nash.com.ph/blog/national-education-plan-2026-2035), [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), [PPSSH Domain 2: Managing School Operations With DepEd Data](https://nash.com.ph/blog/ppssh-domain-2-managing-school-operations) *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.* --- © 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). *How Learners Reach Public High Schools: Boat, Habal-Habal*. NASH Reviewer. https://nash.com.ph/blog/how-learners-reach-public-high-schools. 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