DepEd’s 2014 budget to bridge manpower, equipment gaps in schools

MANILA, Philippines – After scrutinizing the 2014 budget for education, Sen. Ralph Recto revealed yesterday that the government is expected to hire 33,194 teachers, build 43,183 classrooms, and buy 42.6 million books next year.

Recto described the proposed budget for education as a big shopping cart of school supplies that would bridge the manpower and equipment gaps in public schools.

He said the Department of Education (DepEd) would hire 33,194 teachers and 1,500 school principals next year, a move that would cost P9.5 billion in salary for the initial year.

“With this number, it can be said that DepEd will be holding a year-round job fair in 2014,” Recto said in a statement.

The senator expressed hope DepEd would base the hiring of new mentors on competence and not connections.

To address the lack of classrooms, Recto said the government would build 43,183 new classrooms, repair 9,503 existing ones, and buy 1.6 million chairs at a cost of P44.6 billion.

“In terms of rooms to be built, this is by far the biggest in history,” he said adding that the 42.6 million books set to be procured is also record-breaking, aside from the 38,351 sets of science and math laboratory equipment set to be acquired.

The government is also planning to build 10 library hubs, which Recto described as book centrals for multiple school districts. The total tab for the new books, science equipment and library hubs is P8.3 billion.

He said the funds for these acquisitions would be sourced from the P336.9 billion DepEd budget for 2014, which is 15 percent higher than this year’s allocations. The amount includes allocations for the school building fund and miscellaneous personnel benefits fund.

DepEd’s budget is just a component of the larger “education, culture and manpower” sector, which has been allotted P389.5 billion in 2014.

Included in this sector are the allocations for Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and state universities and colleges, which have been earmarked P3.7 and P39.3 billion for next year, respectively.

Recto said the education spending of the government is a combination of catching up with existing backlogs and frontloading for future needs.

Meanwhile, schools that have not yet received their performance-based bonus (PBB) for 2012 are urged to report to DepEd, officials said yesterday.

DepEd Assistant Secretary Jesus Mateo clarified a bonus exceeding P30,000 would be taxed. He said the PBB range from P5,000 to P35,000.

There are about 540,000 public school teachers nationwide, according to Mateo, as he defended the criteria that determines the granting of the PBB.

Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) national chairman Benjo Basas questioned the DepEd’s criteria in granting incentives to its employees.

Mateo said the performances of schools are based on collective efforts of all employees and not on a single employee.

DepEd Order No. 12 provides that the bonus will be computed based on the teachers’ schools’ performance and not on individual performance.

He said the performance category of school-based performance review and evaluation would determine the level of bonus that each employee would receive.

The three indicators are the National Achievement Test (NAT) results, dropout rate, and the school’s liquidation of its maintenance, operating and other expenses. –Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star) with Helen Flores