THE Department of Education (DepEd) on Saturday asked for an unprecedented 100 percent increase in its annual budget to address perennial problems in the basic education sector.
In a radio interview, Secretary Mona Valisno said she will be forwarding the budget proposal to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to remedy the lack of classrooms, improve textbook ratio, and training of teachers.
Although the final blueprint is still in the works, Valisno maintained it is high time for the government to address Deped’s budget shortfall in order to close the gap between rising population and demand for quality of education.
“Kailangan yun so that all of these problems will be addressed since we all know how important education is,” she said.
DepEd received P171 billion allocations this year as Valisno promised the hiring of additional 10,000 teachers. It was also allotted for the acquisition of six million textbooks to greet around 23 million students who will go back to school next month.
Valisno said that the budget hike will be essential in ensuring better classroom sizes, and 1:1 textbook-student ratio especially in core subjects such as Mathematics.
Presently, DepEd said three high school students share one Math textbook as compared to the 1:1 ratio in elementary level.
The outgoing administration of President Arroyo normally allotted around two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to education.
The United Nations however said at least six percent should be devoted by developing countries like the Philippines.
Valisno acknowledged that the state of Philippine education needs to be resuscitated in response to the sagging quality of basic education.
Following the Constitution, the President needs to submit the proposed national budget to Congress 30 days after his State of the Nation Address (Sona).
Budget deliberations in both houses start sometime in September where the agency is required to defend the proposed allocation, among others.
Earlier, President-apparent Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino said his education agenda will center on giving assistance to poor-but-deserving students, and the implementation of a two-year extension to the current 10-year basic education.
He believed that these measures would level the playing field between public and private school training.
Punish erring officials
As this developed, a militant youth group pressed Valisno to strictly impose the non-collection of unnecessary fees to students in the incoming school year.
In a statement, the League of Filipino Students (LFS) said the education chief should make sure that school teachers and principals who violated the order will be punished.
“There were reports from the ground that some schools in Metro Manila and other provinces had been imposing some kind of miscellaneous fees,” LFS national chairperson Terry Ridon said.
Such purportedly include fees on Parent-Teachers Association (PTA), janitorial services, ID, among others.
“Such collections during and after the students have enrolled is tantamount to an unjust taking by public schools from hapless parents and students who entered public schools due to poverty,” Ridon noted.
Last week, the DepEd said that the collection of fees like PTA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Red Cross and Tuberculosis Fund should be deferred later in the school year to encourage more enrollees.
However, the policy only covers students from pre-school up to Grade IV, as stated under DepEd Order no. 19 released last May 19. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)