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MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Wednesday proposed incentivizing the opening of face-to-face classes under the 2022 national budget.
Drilon proposed that state universities and colleges (SUCs) and public schools that will conduct in-person classes be given access to the proposed P3.5-billion fund intended for the retrofitting of education institutions for the holding of physical classes.
“Doing a pilot will not bring us anywhere,” Drilon said during the first day of plenary debates on the 2022 budget.
“What I’m asking the [Senate finance] committee to examine is to incentivize the opening of classes depending on compliance with certain conditions,” he added.
“For example, if the locality has an alert level of 1, shouldn’t we give discretion and authority to education officials in that locality to open classes with appropriate safeguards?” he asked.
The Senate finance panel, chaired by Senator Sonny Angara, added to the proposed 2022 budget a total of P3.5 billion to the budgets of SUCs and the Department of Education “to adjust to face-to-face classes.”
According to Angara, the additional budget can be used by SUCs and public schools to modify the layout and ventilation of the classrooms to fit health standards, among others.
“It’s a wide menu…For modifications or improvements in classrooms, laboratories and other spaces for proper ventilation. [For] COVID-19 testing of faculty and staff, including the purchase of COVID-19 testing machines and other commodities,” he said.
“For purchase necessary supplies, equipment and tools to ensure compliance with existing safety protocols and standards. Maintenance of respiratory and hand hygiene and rehabilitation of water and sanitation facilities,” he added.
Asked by Drilon if the budget can be accessed even if the education institutions have yet to resume physical classes, Angara answered in the affirmative.
“I would think so, there is no condition put in the budget for that,” Angara said.
“What is in the budget is whether or not there is a resumption of the face-to-face classes, these funds can be used for purposes mentioned earlier or they can be used for ICT (Information and Communications Technology) equipment as well as infrastructure development,” he added.
It was at this point that Drilon suggested incentivizing the resumption of face-to-face classes by making it a requirement to access the additional budget.
“We incentivize them by giving them access to this budget,” he said.
“Because I am concerned that the children are already deprived of two years of actual classroom experience and on the other hand our support for the needs of our students on a virtual education system is very pathetic,” the minority leader added.
Angara said he would be open to hearing the specifics of Drilon’s proposal.
“When we have the budget of DepEd and SUCs we can make a more extensive discussion on this,” Drilon said in response.
Earlier this month, DepEd identified 100 public schools that will participate in the limited face-to-face classes on Nov. 15.
Meanwhile, the Commission on Higher Education recently allowed face-to-face classes at 50 percent capacity in areas under Alert Level 2 such as Metro Manila provided that faculty members and students are fully vaccinated and approval from the respective local government unit has been secured.