Palace: Fund Allocations Aimed at Improving Public Education

Malacañang announced several budget allocations for the Department of Education (DepEd) Sunday to fund various programs and projects aimed at augmenting public school personnel and improving the quality of education in the country.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. in an interview over state-run Radyo ng Bayan said the government alloted P10-billion to hire over 39,000 new teachers and create 1,500 non-teaching positions in our public schools.

According to the Department of Budget and Management, Coloma said, the government also earmarked P3.5-billion for the purchase and distribution of 70.5 million textbooks and other necessary teaching materials.

Approximately P54-billion, meanwhile, was apportioned to build 31,728 new classrooms and reconstruct 9,500 others, including the installation of 13,586 water and sanitation facilities, 455 technical-vocational laboratories, and 1.3 million classroom seats.

Additionally, Coloma said, DepEd allocated P8.5-billion to procure over 24,000 information and communications technology packages. This is inclusive of multimedia laboratories for public high schools and computer laboratories with complete basic multimedia equipment for the elementary schools under the agency’s computerization program.

DepEd tops the list of government agencies that received a lion’s share in the 2015 national budget with an overall allocation amounting to P367.1-billion, 19 percent higher compared to its 2014 budget of P309.5-billion, Coloma said.

He added the government also increased by 17 percent the budget allocation for state colleges and universities nationwide this year to P44-billion from P38-billion last year. (PCOO/PND (hdc)