Elago wants subsidy for teachers, students in higher education in Bayanihan 3

Kabataan partylist Representative Sarah Elago on Monday called for the inclusion of a subsidy for teachers and students in higher education institutions in the Bayanihan 3 bill.

"Mayroong 5.6 billion sa basic education, bakit hindi natin pag-aralan at itulak na magbigay din ng parehong pondo para sa pangangailangan sa higher education at kung kinakailangan mas higit pa?" Elago said during the period of interpellation for Bayanihan 3, the measure that seeks to fund the government response to the COVID-19 crisis.

"Dahil ito ay napakaliit lang sa proposals na nagmula sa pangangailangan ng sektor. Hindi lang mga estudyante kundi sa mga guro," she added

With this, Elago proposed that the P700 million funding for n95 and face masks should be reallocated and instead be used for subsidies for teachers and students in higher education institutions.

"Mr. Speaker ang P700 million ay doble sa subsidy and allowances para sa teaching at non-teaching personnel sa ilalim ng Bayanihan 2," said Elago.

"Our proposal is to align this P700 million as a subsidy allowance for teachers in basic and higher education," she added.

According to Elago, some students in higher education are concerned over their lack of options in the learning setup during the pandemic.

She cited that some students, especially those whose families lost their livelihood, do not have basic support for blended learning.

Elago also lamented that under Bayanihan to Recover as One Act or Bayanihan 2, there was little funding for state universities and colleges while there were no funds or subsidies for private education, which covers 8% of higher education institutes.

AAMBIS-OWA party-list Representative Sharon Garin, for her part, backed Elago's suggestion that the Commission on Higher Education budget be supported to fund the needs of employees in higher education institutions.

"I am personally in favor of giving more support to CHED. We would gladly, I would like to solicit your opinion and your suggestions on how we could help CHED in presenting it to the authors," Garin said during the period of interpellations for the measure. — DVM, GMA News