DepEd seeks more funds after teachers' benefits got scrapped from 2021 budget

The Department of Education asked help from the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture to restore incentives for teachers that were scrapped from the 2021 National Expenditure Program.

In a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, Undersecretary Annalyn Sevilla said the Department of Budget and Management  (DBM) did not include the benefits in its proposed budget for DepEd in 2021.

“I think the reason why the DBM was not able to consider this in the 2021 NEP is the reason these are congressional initiatives,” she said.

“So we would be needing you support again your honor.”

According to Sevilla,  the P1,000 World Teachers’ Day incentive and P500 annual medical exam benefit are absent in the 2021 budget.

“A total of P1,500 will be given to our eligible teachers this month until October,” Sevilla said.

“However, as an update, these two benefits are not anymore existing in the 2021 NEP. So this was not considered by the DBM for our 2021 budget,” she added.

According to Sevilla, the DepEd needs additional funds of P1 billion for the World Teachers’ Day incentive and P500 million for annual medical assistance.

Sevilla said the department initially submitted a 2021 budget proposal of P1.1 trillion, but the DBM slashed it to P606.5 billion.

DepEd’s government assistance subsidies funds dropped by 28.39% from P36.6 billion in 2020 to P26.3 billion in 2021. —KBK, GMA News