Sara says education sector’s P895B budget ‘not enough’ to achieve MATATAG goals

Despite receiving the highest budget allocation from the government, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte said on Thursday that the nearly P900 billion budget of the education for this year is not enough to achieve its "MATATAG Agenda".

“In the 2023 General Appropriations Act, the education sector received the highest budget with PHP895.2 billion. Out of this, the Department of Education received PHP678.3 billion for basic education,” Duterte said during the DepEd Partners Convergence held at the National Museum of Natural History.

“However, these national budget allocations for basic education are not enough to cover all the requirements needed in achieving our MATATAG Agenda,” she added.

In January, DepEd launched its MATATAG Agenda, which highlights the agency’s two-track approach—complementing the traditional solutions of hiring more teachers and building more classrooms with more innovative solutions of tapping modern technology to bridge the gaps in basic education.

The agenda includes building disaster-resilient schools, strengthening literacy and numeracy programs, and reviewing the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education. 

It also aims to provide technical assistance to improve the procurement processes of DepEd through continuous capacity-building and digitalization.

Duterte thus called on education partners and stakeholders to commit to help transform the 28 million Filipino learners to become better citizens.

“As Matatag Partners, we recognize that education is not just about academic achievement, but it is also about personal growth, building character, and developing life skills. And, ultimately, to be a Matatag Partner means to be part of something greater than ourselves,” Duterte said.

“To be part of a movement that has the power to transform lives and communities. It means collaborating, learning, and growing together toward our shared goal of creating a better world through education,” she continued. —VAL, GMA Integrated News