Benjo Basas, national chairman of the 30,000-strong Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC), said Education Secretary Armin Luistro should have allocated more funding for the improvement of public schools and less for programs with no clear impact on the overall education output.

The group specifically pointed out the allocation for the Government Assistance for Students and Teachers in Private Education (Gastpe), saying the P6.3 billion set aside for the program could have gone to more useful programs “like the construction of classrooms and other facilities and hiring of more teachers.”

“The government is set to allocate P6.3 billion for this program, a very huge amount compared to other more important budget items in the DepEd. Thus, it needs to be reviewed and the DepEd should evaluate the implementation and impact of this program,” said Basas, adding,  “Clearly the funds are needed to finance more meaningful and tangible investments.”

The DepEd earlier admitted that classroom shortage stood at 66,800 and that of teachers, 103,000.

Gastpe is a program designed to provide alternative opportunities to deserving students whose families can not afford to spend extra for private- school tuition, and are selected from the graduating elementary students and supported until they complete fourth year high school while complying with the minimum academic requirements of the program.

Another program that TDC said the department has neglected to include in its priorities is the provision for additional funding for kindergarten education that was made universal this school year as part of the K+12 plan to add two more years to the current 10-year basic education program.

The universal implementation of the program in June was met with criticism owing to the lack of preparations by the DepEd such as the provision of classrooms, supplies, and teachers to accommodate the 1.9 million pupils currently enrolled under the program.

“In the DepEd’s transparency report, there is no specific mention of President Aquino’s flagship program. How much money would be spent to hire regular kindergarten teachers with a dignified compensation? How many classrooms will be built to house kinder students? Will there be instructional materials for teachers and learning materials for pre-school kids?” asked Basas.

He said that until now the “volunteer teachers” and regular DepEd teachers who served in the kindergarten program from June of this year are yet to be paid their P3,000 monthly honorarium.

“The improvement in the education system depends largely on the fiscal policy of the government and if this trend continues, we could never expect for a better output,” he added.

In disclosing its planned expenditures for 2012, Luistro said it was the best way to be transparent and to let the people know where the department is in addressing various problems facing the country’s basic education sector.

The proposed P238.8-billion budget of the DepEd had already been approved by House and is up for discussion at the Senate. The amount represents a 15-percent increase from last year’s budget of P207 billion.

Of this, Luistro said P324 million will go to DepEd attached agencies, P14.5 billion will pay for retirement and life-insurance premiums of employees and P8.9 billion will go to the miscellaneous personnel-benefits funds.

Agencies attached to DepEd are the Philippine High School for the Arts, the National Council for Children’s Television, the National Book Development Board and the National Museum.

Of the remaining P215.1 billion, P167.1 billion is allocated for salaries of its personnel, including the more than half-a-million public-school teachers, P2.8 billion in additional annual allocation for the 13,000 new teacher items and funds for the scheduled increase in wages of government employees in 2012 under the Salary Standardization Law 3 (SSL3).

The amount of P26.3 billion will be used for maintenance and other operating expenses, and the purchase of supplies and materials like chalk and paper.  From this amount will come P6.3 billion that will increase the number of beneficiaries under the Gastpe.

Several teachers groups such as the TDC and the Alliance of Concerned Teachers have urged the department to increase the chalk allowance from the present P700 every year to P2,000 but Luistro said the department can only give an increase of P300.

From the P21.7 billion in capital outlay, the DepEd plans to use over P18 billion to construct and repair a total of 15,000 classrooms and install 25,000 sanitation facilities.

An additional 30,000 classrooms are expected to be constructed through the public-private partnership program bringing the total target to 45,000 classrooms in just one year.

The department will also buy 2.5 million school seats to match the expected increase in student population when school year 2012-13 starts in June next year.

Meanwhile, P1.8 billion of the outlay will be used for the procurement of information technology equipment and textbooks, and to sustain the Internet connection of 7,000 public- high schools nationwide.

Teachers’ basic pay will be increased to P18,549 from P17,099 this year once the fourth and final wave of increases under SSL3 is put into effect next year.

“This wage increase will make their total monthly gross pay surpass the P20,000 mark,” said Luistro.