Funds released for private school transfers

THE government has released funds to enable qualified public school students to study in private educational institutions.

In a statement, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) announced that it has released P5.769 billion to the Department of Education (DepEd) for its Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education (GASTPE) program.

The program aims to decongest public high schools through subsidies allowing public high-school students to transfer to private schools, which have the capacity to absorb more students.

Under the said program, a student-grantee residing within the National
Capital Region will be given P10,000 as subsidy for the payment of tuition, while those residing in other regions will be granted P5,000 a student.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the funds released for the program would benefit 910,902 poor but deserving students across the country.

“GASTPE is one of the innovative programs of the government that seeks to improve access of Filipino children to education. This program alleviates our need to build more classrooms or hire more teachers,” the Budget chief said.

For the entire year, the government’s budget for the program is set at P5.829 billion.

Besides the P5.769 billion released for the program, the Budget department has also released P146.13 million to Education department and the Department of Public Works and Highways for the construction and repair of school buildings.

Abad said that the amount released for the erection of school buildings and repair of existing buildings was charged against the unused Education department’s School Building Program amounting to P2 billion during the preceding year.

The Budget secretary explained that such move is a result of the Aquino government’s zero-based budgeting approach, where unused budget is either utilized during the subsequent year for the same program or rechanelled to fund projects that the administration deemed more necessary.

“This [the GASTPE program] will benefit students in 84 elementary and 29 secondary schools in the country,” Abad said.

The DBM, DepEd and the Department of Interior and Local Government have been in constant search for innovative ways to fast track the construction of education facilities.

For one, these departments have signed memorandums of agreement with local government in co-financing school building projects.

For the year, the government allocated P207.3-sbillion budget for Education department, the biggest in a decade. Of that amount, a P1-billion lump sum is allotted for the School Building Program; and P11.3 billion is also allotted for schoolhouse construction and maintenance. –KATRINA MENNEN A. VALDEZ, Manila Times

Short URL: http://www.manilatimes.net/?p=7634