THE Department of Education’s (DepEd) statement that “procedural considerations” restrict its means is neither here nor there. It must disclose in detail the funding needs and concerns for the safe reopening of schools and delivery of accessible quality education on Oct. 5.
In the interest of fulfilling the youth’s right to education, DepEd must be transparent and reveal exactly how much more budget the agency needs to ensure a successful learning continuity.
Similarly, which of its present funds are they not able to realign due to policy constraints? We strongly encourage DepEd to sincerely endeavor in ensuring sufficient resources to amply prepare for school opening.
The ongoing deliberations of the Bayanihan II is an opportune venue to push the national government to include in its pandemic response provisions for education — a basic right and key social service that the government must ensure regardless of the pandemic. The biggest roadblock to school opening is the lack of budgetary support from the national government.
The first Bayanihan did nothing to prepare the public education system for the drastic measures it had to undertake due to the health crisis — which factored greatly in the two-time postponement of class resumption. Hence, DepEd should ensure that the critical step of gathering enough resources to finally enable the Oct. 5 opening. We expect DepEd to be at the frontlines of calling for greater subsidy now that Bayanihan II is on the table.
We can’t fathom Education secretary Leonor Briones’ claims on supposed “laws of economics” that indicate that resources will always be short, especially not when we know for a fact that billions of the people’s money have been going to corruption. What we do understand is the laws enshrined in the Constitution that the government is duty-bound to fund education. For that, we need concrete figures: how much more funds does DepEd need to establish enough health measures at schools, to support the treatment of infected personnel, to ensure enough modules for each learner, to provide needed tech infrastructures for online classes, among others.
The Secretary along with top DepEd officials must grab and exhaust all opportunities to forward the demands of the education sector.
