PBBM seeks more funding for education

By Ruth Abbey Gita-Carlos, Philippine News Agency

FILE: Scenes at Molino Elementary School in Bacoor, Cavite as learners are welcomed on the first day of classes on Monday (Aug. 22, 2022). (PNA photo by Avito Dalan)

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is pushing for higher funding for the education sector, following the Department of Education’s (DepEd) budget cut and lack of funding for the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (TESDA) programs for 2025.

In a meeting with DepEd officials at Malacañan Palace in Manila to review their 2025 budget Thursday, Marcos emphasized the need to put a premium on the education sector.

“We have to be able to show that that’s (education) the priority,” he said during the meeting, as quoted by the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) in a news release Friday.

Marcos was told during the meeting that the reduction in the DepEd’s 2025 budget could worsen the country’s problem on teacher shortage.

Congress only approved a PHP737 billion budget for DepEd, lower than the department’s proposed PHP748 billion appropriations for 2025.

Allocations reduced by Congress were for the creation of new school personnel positions, the Basic Education Facilities Fund (BEFF), and the implementation of the DepEd Computerization Program (DCP).

The DepEd said the lower budget for new school personnel positions would “exacerbate the teacher shortage,” adding that the requirement from previous years remains partly addressed, further compromising the delivery of quality education.

The department also noted that it proposed PHP12.379 billion for its DCP but was only given PHP2.43 billion.

As a result, the DepEd was forced to cancel about PHP4 billion out of the PHP7 billion worth of DCP projects that already underwent early procurement activities.

The DepEd said the decrease would affect the delivery of much-needed learner and teacher tools, such as laptops, smart TVs, and satellite-based Internet.

It added that the reduced BEFF would hamper the construction of school buildings.

Marcos also backed the TESDA’s plan to study options for financing its unfunded programs.

While the TESDA’s budget increased by PHP20.73 billion in the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) from the proposed PHP18.5 billion in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP), some of its key programs were not funded this year.

These unfunded programs include the creation of an Enterprise-based Training Office and the establishment of a new office for the Negros Island Region.