Government spending P10-B to hire 40,566 new teachers

Photo courtesy of Laguna School Systems

MANILA — Government is spending P10 billion to enlist 40,566 new teachers and support staff for the public school system next year, House Deputy Minority Leader and LPG-MA Rep. Arnel Ty said over the weekend.

Ty said the fresh funding, contained in the proposed PHP 2.606-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2015, would enable the Department of Education (DepEd) to create an additional 39,066 teaching and 1,500 non-teaching posts, according to Ty.

The DepEd also intends to spend another PHP 52.9 billion to build 31,728 classrooms, install 13,586 school water and sanitation facilities, and acquire 1.3 million chairs next year.

“We welcome the highly aggressive spending for extra staff and basic education facilities, ahead of the full implementation of K-12, amid fears that the DepEd may be ill-equipped to cope with the demands of the new program,” Ty said.

LPG-MA is a strong backer of Brigada Eskwela, the annual campaign to refurbish public schools.

In the campaign, LPG-MA volunteers, together with teachers, parents, students and other civic groups, help renovate school buildings and repair provisions such as water and sanitation facilities as well as desks and chairs.

Mandated by the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2014, K-12 covers Kindergarten and 12 years of basic education — six years of elementary (Grades 1-6), four years of junior high (Grades 7-10), plus two years of senior high (Grades 11-12).

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV previously called for the suspension of K-12 until the DepEd has addressed the school system’s severe lack of teachers and classrooms, among others.

“There’s no question that K-12 will put a lot of pressure on the system, which will have to keep students in school for another two years starting 2016,” Ty explained.The United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (UNMDG) also binds the Philippines to “ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.”

“We now have high hopes that government’s incremental investment in basic education will enable the country to achieve universal primary schooling by 2015,” Ty noted.

Meanwhile, Ty said the DepEd’s allocation next year also includes PHP 8.4 billion to subsidize the tuition of 1,082,798 secondary students in private schools.

In Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE), the DepEd enters into large-scale education service contracting with private high schools.

The private institutions receive students who can no longer be accommodated in existing public high schools. In return, government pays the private school a fixed amount per student every year.

The DepEd’s PHP 364.95-billion allocation for 2015 is PHP 55.52 billion, or 18 percent, greater than its PHP 309.43-billion spending program this year.

K-12 adds two years of senior high to basic education in order to allow students to fully master concepts and skills, develop lifelong learners, and prepare graduates for tertiary education, middle-level skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship.