AS stated in our previous column, the proposed 2015 Department of Education (DepEd)budget in the amount of P262.5 billion was passed by the House of Representatives on Second Reading on September 26. This is now scheduled for plenary deliberations in the Senate on November 20, 24 and 25. We then analyzed how the DepEd budget increased in the past years and showed that the present Aquino administration is undoubtedly the most committed in achieving quality basic education for all.
So what are the highlights of this proposed 2015 budget? With this budget, we hope to hire 39,066 more teachers which shall cost more or less P9.35 billion; construct 31,728 new classrooms; repair 9,500 classrooms and 13,586 toilets and water sanitation facilities; purchase more or less 1.3 million seats; and procure 70 million learning materials.
The creation of these additional teaching positions next year will raise the number of authorized the DepEd positions to 709,000. It may be important to note that the DepEd has absorbed 18,447 local government unit (LGU)-hired teachers in the “national plantilla” in the last two years. Specifically, more or less 12,901 and 5,546 teachers were hired, respectively, in 2013 and 2014. Only 4,036 qualified LGU-hired teachers are not yet absorbed and they should be prioritized for next year’s hiring. Aside from the hiring of teachers, P2.05 billion has been set aside for a “retooling program” for more or less 160,000 teachers nationwide and to make them ready for the full implementation of the K to 12 program in 2016. Also in support of the DepEd’s K to 12 program, around 7,733 science and math laboratory equipment packages amounting to P4 billion shall be procured and 24,208 classrooms shall be equipped with computers, information technology equipment and Wi-Fi for P8.53 billion.
The DepEd’s Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education program shall receive P8.4 billion for more or less 1 million beneficiaries. Under this program, each qualified student beneficiary in National Capital Region receives P10,000 and outside NCR P7,500 annually. One of the objectives of this program is to decongest public secondary schools by “contracting” the excess capacities of private high schools through the provision of subsidies for students who would have gone to public high schools but for these subsidies. Corollary to the subsidies provided to qualified students is the “Teacher Salary Subsidy” (TSS), where qualified participating school teachers who have updated licenses from the Professional Regulation Commission receive up to P12,000 a year subsidy. There are many other programs to be funded under the proposed 2015 DepEd, which we could no longer discuss due to lack of space in this column. However, we should not forget Education Secretary Bro. Armin A. Luistro, FSC’s “Abot-Alam Program,” where at least P1.97 billion was allocated. The DepEd’s Abot-Alam Program envisions a “zero” out-of-school youth in the Philippines by providing them access to basic education whether via the DepEd’s various alternative delivery modes or alternative learning systems or if it is not possible, by training them for work in coordination with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority. With our Education Undersecretary Mario A. Deriquito at the helm of this program, we know that this will all happen. As they aptly state it, “If you invest in education, you invest in the future.” With the DepEd’s proposed 2015 budget, the largest in Philippine history, let us all thank our President Aquino for investing in education and for investing in our children’s future.
Lawyer Toni Umali is the current assistant secretary for Legal and Legislative Affairs of the DepEd. He is licensed to practice law not only in the Philippines but also in the State of California and some Federal Courts in the United States of America after passing the California State Bar Examinations in 2004. He is also a member of the National Board of the National Union of career executive service officers, an organization of career executive service officers comprising the ‘third level’ or the managerial class in the group of career positions in the Philippine civil service.
He has served as legal consultants to several legislators and local chief executives. As education assistant secretary, he was instrumental in the passage of the K to 12 law and the issuance of its implementing rules and regulations. He is also the alternate spokesman of the DepEd.