Big DepEd hopes for VP-elect Sara Duterte

Vice President-elect Sara Duterte FILE PHOTO

An official of the Department of Education (DepEd) said it was best for the agency to have Vice President-elect Sara Duterte at its helm so it could get a larger allocation from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

During a regional management committee meeting in Zamboanga del Norte on Wednesday, Undersecretary Alain Pascua was optimistic that when budget hearings start in July or August, the education sector would be given priority.

Duterte accepted last week President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s offer to make her education secretary and she vowed to use her six years to “improve [the department’s teaching and nonteaching personnel’s] welfare and the quality of education in our country.”

Earlier this year, the DepEd was allocated a P631.77-billion budget, a 6.34-percent increase from last year but still far cry from the agency’s P1.37-trillion proposed budget for 2022.

Approved

Recently, the DBM approved the proposed increase in the DepEd’s subsidy programs including the senior high school (SHS) voucher and educational service contracting (ESC) under its Tier 1 budget proposal for fiscal year 2023.“Out of the P626.18 billion approved Tier 1 Level to the DepEd by the DBM … SHS [voucher program] got approval for P39.33 billion,” the department said in a statement on Tuesday.

The amount will cover 1,132,155 SHS students who are beneficiaries of the voucher program for the school year 2023-2024.

Meanwhile, the ESC, which is a partnership program by the DepEd with certified private schools intended for the decongestion of overcrowded public schools, got an approved P11.05-billion budget that will cover 1,031,193 ESC grantees.

The increase in the two subsidy programs would be used to expand the access to quality education for junior and senior high school students, the DepEd said.

“This is through aiding private education institutions by making payments to private schools on their billings filed and claimed in previous years. In addition, the agency is also financially capacitated to make full payments to concerned private schools within one budget year,” it added.

READ: VP frontrunner Sara Duterte to serve as DepEd secretary, says Bongbong Marcos