Budget for S&T gets shot in the arm
The government will give the public science and technology sector a major shot in the arm next year, lining up P3.2 billion worth of new projects and increasing the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) budget by 51 percent, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said yesterday.
Andaya said DOST’s budget will increase by P1.9 billion – from this year’s P3.64 billion to the proposed P5.52 billion for 2008 – ranking it first among agencies that will get the biggest budgetary increase next year.
The hike would enable the DOST to increase the number of scholarship slots it grants to college students taking up science courses and high school students enrolled in the network of science high schools, Andaya said.
Funding for “science scholarships” would jump from the 2007 level of P882 million to P1.42 billion next year.
The Philippine Science High School’s allocation will increase to P730 million from the current P434 million. Andaya said “engineering education” for high schools has been allocated P55 million.
Three other DOST programs will be granted additional allocations, namely, Technology Incubation for Commercialization, P40 million; Engineering Research and Technology for Development, P161 million; and National Technology Innovation System (NTIS), P300 million.
The NTIS, a DOST briefer said, is a program that will provide S&T assistance to entrepreneurs and inventors.
As part of the government’s investment in research and development, the University of the
Also slated next year is the pilot implementation of the engineering science education project in high schools, wherein students with the scholastic aptitude to take engineering courses in college would be put on “an academic track” to prepare them for that option, he said. – Paolo Romero
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