DepEd to review exemptions in 'no collection' rule

DAVAO CITY, Philippines - The Department of Education (DepEd) will push through with its "no collection" policy for public elementary and high schools, including pre-schools. "From pre-school up to Grade 4, talagang walang (there's really no) collection the whole year. Grades 5 and 6 as well as high school can give voluntary fees after one month from the start of classes," Dr. Susana Teresa Estigoy, DepEd-Southern Mindanao director, said Thursday. Estigoy, however, said the case of volunteer pre-school teachers who receive their honoraria from Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) collections is being studied by the Deped central office. "The central office is working this out. We received advice yesterday (Wednesday) to submit cost analysis so I advised the chief of the Elementary Education Division to comply immediately," Estigoy said. She added there is a possibility that DepEd will subsidize the honoraria for the volunteer pre-school teachers with the help of the local government units. "We are still going to submit our cost analysis so we do not know how far DepEd will go," Estigoy said. The cost analysis includes information on classes already being funded by the local government unit. Estigoy said other pre-schools would be funded by elementary schools with big maintenance and other operating expenses, which division superintendents were ordered to release to the schools. DepEd said it would consider providing funds for the remaining classes without budgets. – Sun.Star Davao