Education Tops 2016 Budget with P435.9-B

With the Aquino administration intensifying its support of social services, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is proposing P435.9 billion for the country’s public education sector under proposed P3.002-trillion National Budget.

The proposed budget for this sector will help widen access to and improve public education in the country.

Of the P1.11-trillion allocation to Social Services in the 2016 National Expenditure Program (NEP), P435.9-billion will be given to the Department of Education (DepEd). This increase of 15.4 percent or P58.2 billion—as compared to their 2015 budget of P377.7 billion—makes DepEd’s proposed budget the highest among all departments and agencies.

“The previous years’ budgets successfully addressed our classroom and teacher shortages, and this year, we’re strengthening the implementation of the K-12 program. With the proposed 2016 budget, we can broaden the reach of our public education reform efforts. Ultimately, what we want is to give more Filipinos—especially our poorest—better access to quality education,” Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad said.

Aside from supporting the DepEd’s K-12 Basic Education Reform Program—including the implementation of the first year of senior high school in 2016)—the DepEd budget also includes allocations for their Basic Education Facilities program amounting to P82.3 billion for the construction of 47,553 classrooms and technical-vocational laboratories.

On the other hand, P16.9 billion of the education agency’s budget is set for the hiring of 79,691 teaching and non-teaching personnel.

The DepEd will likewise have a P4.2-billion budget for the provision of 103.2 million new textbooks and instructional materials, and P21.2-billion allocation to provide Government Assistance for Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) to 1.81 million grantees of tuition subsidy.

“As the number of students increase every year, it’s also become more crucial for us to strengthen the capacity of our public schools. By investing on programs and projects that have a real and measurable impact on the lives of our people, we can ensure that the country’s economic growth will be wholly inclusive,” Abad said.

Source: www.dbm.gov.ph