DepEd faces budget woes in COVID-19 new normal

While getting the lion’s share of the proposed 2021 national budget from among the departments, the Department of Education (DepEd) is still hounded by lack of funds for some of its programs as it transitions to distance learning in the time of COVID-19 pandemic.

Education officials who faced the House of Representatives panel tackling the 2021 appropriations said the lack of funds could imperil some of their programs such as printing of modules and increased internet allowance for teachers.

DepEd Undersecretary for Finance Annalyn Sevilla said the department initially submitted a budget proposal of P1.1 trillion, but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) slashed it to P606.5 billion.

As an augmentation, the DBM allotted the department with around P25 billion unprogrammed appropriations to support its vouchers programs, Last Mile Schools Program, conservation and restoration of heritage schools, among others.

However, as stated in the Special Provisions section of the proposed budget, he amounts under unprogrammed funds may be tapped only when any of the following exists:

-Excess revenue collections in any one of the identified non-tax revenue sources from its corresponding revenue collection target;
-New revenue collections or those arising from new tax or non-tax sources which are not part of, nor included in, the original revenue sources reflected; or,
-Approved loans for foreign-assisted projects

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED), meanwhile, gets 6.7 percent of the budget for the sector at P50.9 billion and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA)  gets P13.7 billion or 1.8 percent of the allocation.

State Universities and Colleges would be given the remaining 11 percent of the budget pie for education at P83.3 billion.

Unprogrammed funds

While the total enrollment of K-12 students in private schools plunged to 1.8 million as of August 11 or merely 43 percent of the turnout in 2019, the DepEd earmarked P26.3 billion for vouchers and subsidies that would benefit 2.7 million junior and senior high school students in 2021.

Of this amount, P10.7 billion of which will go to the Education Service Contracting Program for private junior high schools; P14.4 billion to the Senior High School Voucher Program; and P1.2 billion to the Joint Delivery Voucher Program.

These programs are under DepEd’s government assistance subsidies fund, which dropped by 28.39 percent from P36.6 billion in 2020.

"Ang voucher program ay may binababa din po na P10 billion, at ang iba pa po rito na benefits," Sevilla said in an earlier press conference.

Admitting that the allocation would not be enough, Sevilla said DepEd asked the DBM for additional funding for the voucher program.

The additional budget has been approved but only as an “unprogrammed fund” or “standby fund.” Sevilla explained the allocation will be funded if there are new or excess revenue collections and loans in 2021.

According to DepEd, the DBM granted DepEd P10.5 billion standby fund for the voucher program.

Aside from this, Sevilla said DBM also approved more standby funds for electrification of school sites with P3.84 billion, last mile schools program with P6.5 billion, and flexible learning options with P5 billion.

"This is the first time in the Department of Education na mayroon kaming nakalinya sa unprogrammed fund," she added.

Hiring personnel

Under the Office of the Education Secretary's national expenditure program, personnel services have the biggest share with a budget allocation of 475 billion.

The department has a total of 976,520 authorized positions, 932,740 of which are currently filled.

As of May, DepEd said 830,030 teaching positions are already occupied. For 2021, the department will look for 10,000 new personnel to fill in teaching positions.

According to the special provisions indicated in the National Expenditure Program, displaced faculty members from higher education institutions and technical vocational institutions shall be prioritized in hiring personnel for positions in senior high schools.

More than P675 million have also been earmarked for training under the proposed budget.

According to DepEd, the training targets to improve the teachers’ skills in information and communications technology amid the distance learning approach for the coming school year.

Teachers’ allowance, salary increase

While some stakeholders called for higher allowance to finance the connectivity and communication expenses entailed by the no face-to-face class policy, the proposed budget of DepEd for next school year indicated that a one-time cash allowance of P3,500 shall be provided to every classroom teacher “for the purchase of teaching supplies and materials.”

Sevilla explained that Congress has the discretion to raise this amount during the budget deliberations.

“Yung aming cash allowance for the teachers is still P3,500 so ito ‘yung sumasagot sa mga ibang pangangailangan ng teacher and it’s up to Congress, actually... but of course kapag dinivide mo by 10 months na nagtuturo ang teacher, P3,500 is equivalent to P350 per month,” she said.

Sevilla said allowances are authorized through a law or through a policy of the DBM, Civil Service Commission and the Commission on Audit. The DepEd said it already took steps, considering the additional expenses of teachers under the new normal this school year.

“Sumulat na kami sa tatlong ahensiya na ito na gusto man natin bigyan ang mga teachers ay hindi kami allowed dahil ang allowances kailangan ay mayroong legal basis. So right now, ang communication namin is written as an expense—kailangan natin magkaroon ng procurement o kaya may mga resibo o kaya ay talagang parte ng mga programa,” she said. “Pero [kung] ibibigay bilang allowance, kami ay limited sa kung ano ang ibibigay sa aming authorization.”

Compared to the 2020 budget, Sevilla said the fund for personnel services that includes salary increase for teachers increased by 13.54% from P418.4 billion to P475.09 billion in 2021.

Sevilla also attributed the huge increase in DepEd budget to the implementation of the salary increase under the Salary Standardization Law.

“By next year meron naman pong salary increase. Ito ‘yung second tranche noong Salary Standardization Law…Meron pong kasiguraduhan sa ating mga guro na naka-employ ngayon,” she added.

Computerization program

The DepEd also allocated P9 billion for its Computerization Program. More than 37,000 multimedia packages including one laptop and one television set will be distributed to public schools nationwide under this program.

According to Sevilla, the Computerization Program has one of the biggest increase in allocations in the DepEd’s 2021 budget. It was increased by 86.6 percent compared to the 2020 amount.

“Pati po ‘yung public education network na inanunsyo po ng ating mahal na Presidente noong SONA ay gumagawa po tayo ng paraan na magkaroon ng internet connection,” Sevilla said.

“Umpisa sa ating mga eskuwelahan, mga guro, later on, para rin sa ating mag-aaral,” she added.

The internet connectivity project will be in coordination with the Department of Information and Communications Technology and Presidential Communications Operations Office.

The provision of radios, instead of other electronic gadgets, to last mile schools is being eyed by the DepEd.

“Karamihan ng last miles schools wala silang connectivity or kung mayroon man, eh worse than what we have in the urban places. Ang proposal nga namin, sinabi namin sa Secretary of Finance na itong sa mga last mile schools, mas mabisa ang radyo,” Education Secretary Leonor Briones said.

“At saka kung radyo, hindi ‘yung luma ninyong patapon na radyo ang ipamimigay. Ang sina-suggest namin it has to be solar-powered dahil wala namang kuryente itong last mile schools… Pangalawa, kailangan water-proof dahil may ulan, may baha, may lindol sa mga lugar na ito,” she added.

Self-learning modules

Sevilla said that the department proposed P34 billion budget to provide one self-learning module per student.

However, she said the DBM appropriated only P15 billion for printing of self-learning modules for students.  Another P5 billion was appropriated under unprogrammed projects.

Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said that with less funds, it would be impossible to provide students a copy of each of the modules to be used when classes in public school begin on October 5. 

“The other thing that I was saying, I know there are reservations from a lot of people, is the idea  of using the modules on rotation basis,” San Antonio said.

Sevilla added, “We are readjusting our plan so that we can have a production of the self-learning materials with this amount which was given to us.”

Basic Education Facilities

The department’s proposed budget for the Basic Education Facilities amounts to P24.1 billion.

Of this, P12.9 billion will be used for construction, replacement, and completion of kindergarten, elementary and secondary school buildings and technical vocational laboratories, and the construction of water and sanitation facilities. Some P4.7 billion will be for rehabilitation, renovation, repair of these facilities.

Another P4.8 billion was earmarked for the procurement of school desks, furniture and fixtures.

DepEd plans constructing 5,174 classrooms; rehabilitating 10,444 classrooms; purchasing 38,917 sets of school furniture; and electrification of 1,536 sites in 2021.

“Ito rin ay magandang pagkakataon na habang wala ang mga bata, inaayos ang construction dahil alam natin na later on—kaya tinawag natin siyang blended learning—ay magkakaroon tayo ng continuation ng ating education, of course with the guidance and policies of the Department of Health,” Sevilla said.

“Habang ‘yun po ay hinihintay natin, kailangan kami ay nagpe-prepare for that,” she added.

While the allocation for facilities is reduced by 18.16 percent, she noted that DepEd will focus on repairs to make campuses compliant to the minimum health standards in light of the COVID-19 threat.

Aside from this, Sevilla said DepEd allocated P4.2 billion from the general management fund to provide the needs in setting up minimum health requirements for the new normal such as personal protective equipment (PPEs).

Education and economy

Sevilla said the department has to reckon with the reality that funds are scarce to finance tall expenditures.

“Kami naiintindihan namin, this is the requirement but the resources is not really enough kaya mayroon kaming nakalagay ngayon sa unprogrammed fund,” she said.

Briones also said the DepEd understands the “very tough decisions” that the DBM has to make in order to efficiently use the proposed P4.5 trillion national budget for 2021.

Nonetheless, the Education Secretary underscored that education would play an important role in boosting the economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Ang laki din ng contribution ng education in terms of this economic growth and it also explains our anxiety and our insistence and persistence of continuing education,” Briones said.

“Of course, ang pinakaimportante [ay] ang students, ayaw nating maiwanan ang ating learners but at the same time we know that education is a major player in the economy. Anyone can see that, just look at the size of the budget itself,” she added.  —LDF, GMA News