Bohol First District Cong. Edgar Chatto files House Resolution No. 1274 together with Negros Oriental First District Cong. Jocelyn Limkaichong strongly urging the House Committee on Appropriations to allocate an additional P20 billion to fund the printing of self-learning modules to implement the Distance Learning Education of the Department of Education (DepEd) for School Year 2021 – 2022, a report provided yesterday, Oct. 10, 2020 by Chatto’s office says.
The implementation of Distance Learning ensures continuity of education amid the limited lesson delivery options as measure to contain the spread of the virus which impacted students, the resolution says.
To ensure the successful implementation of the Distance Learning program, the DepEd estimates the implementation cost to be at around P40 billion.
The budget will be used for the printing of self-learning modules, that will be the cornerstone of the Distance Learning program.
Under the current proposed budget for 2021, only P20 billion has been earmarked for the undertaking.
According to DepEd, P5 billion will come from unprogrammed funds, P15 billion from regular allocation and the rest will be sourced from the Special Education Fund (SEF) and Brigada Eskwela funds.
The SEF is generated from 1% of real property tax revenues collected by local government units (LGU) that supplement annual budget needed for the operation and maintenance of public schools in the province, city, or municipality.
Meanwhile, Brigada Eskwela, is DepEd’s annual public-school repair volunteer program.
In a manifestation during the budget hearing for DepEd, Chatto asserted that the national budget must be the primary resource for the present modes of learning particularly in terms of printing materials.
He emphasized that funds from the SEF and Brigada Eskwela should not be considered as primary sources of funding.
Moreover, the resolution expresses that support coming from LGU and the private sector is not enough.
“By ensuring a budget that sustains the needs of the current educational setup which adopts to the new normal, teachers can focus on teaching and not on soliciting for the needed materials,” Chatto explained.
Over 22 million public school students have begun classes as of October 5, 2020.
The original schedule was on August 24, 2020, but was moved to October 5, 2020. The resetting of the date of the opening of classes in the public schools was deemed necessary as there were delays encountered in the printing of the learning modules due to insufficient supplies and lack of budget for the purchase of bond papers and other printing materials