DepEd seeks additional P500-M funding for special needs program

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd) is seeking more than P500 million in additional funding to train and hire personnel for its special needs education program, as the initiative faces cuts in the agency’s proposed 2027 budget.

The additional funding for DepEd’s inclusive education program would support more than 30,000 government schools and help train teachers to support students with special needs, Education Secretary Sonny Angara told lawmakers on Monday.

“We’ve appealed for an additional P541.5 million, subject to the discretion of the honorable members of Congress,” he said, pitching an increase for the P850 million earmarked for next year.

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Angara said the requested increase will help implement the inclusive education program in 34,000 schools nationwide and train more teachers in special education.

“This is to train some of the teachers given the systemic lack of personnel and capacity building for 622 school heads, supervisors, and multidisciplinary teams as required by the inclusive education [law],” he said. /dl