MANILA, Philippines — As Congress opens deliberations for the 2021 budget on Friday, a group of teacher unionists are urging that bigger funding allocations be given to the education and social service sectors.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers staged a demonstration outside the gates of the House of Representatives "to demand bigger funding for safe, accessible, and quality education amid the pandemic and beyond."
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The group also urged the overhaul of what it called a "repressive, pork-infested spending program," in order to prioritize social services that would aid the country's recovery from the coronavirus-induced health and economic crises.
"Realign the [excessive] intelligence and war funds to the health system, education, and to aid provision for grappling families and essential institutions. Infrastructure budget should go to the building of schools and medical facilities. These are where our money should go,” ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio said.
The proposed national budget submitted to Congress by the Department of Budget and Management last week revealed that President Rodrigo Duterte is seeking a combined P20-billion increase in funds for the military and the national police in 2021.
The 2021 National Expenditure Program (NEP), a copy of which was obtained by The STAR from the House appropriations committee, increased the fund of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from P186 billion this year to P203 billion next year.
The NEP also set the Philippine National Police budget for 2021 at P190.85 billion or an increase of P3.25 billion from P187.6 billion this year.
Meanwhile, DBM denied the Department of Education P65 billion supplemental budget request for its learning continuity plan.
Education Undersecretary Anne Sevilla, during a virtual briefing, called the request a conservative amount, primarily meant to cover the provision of laptops to all public school teachers, as well as to fund the upholding of minimum health standards in basic education schools and offices.
ACT urges more funds for distance learning
The group further argued that the public education system has long suffered from a lack of funding and that these unfavorable conditions were drastically aggravated by the sudden shift to distance learning necessitated by the pandemic. As a result, ACT warned that millions more of students could be "disenfranchised and endangered."
“The pandemic fully exposed the weaknesses of our education system, as well as of other social institutions, caused largely by year after year of insufficient funding," Basilio said.
“With DepEd’s poorly funded remote learning plans, at least 4 million learners are at risk of being left behind while the rest are set to endure diminished learning quality. These alone are grave injustices to the youth. No amount of making up by teachers will suffice, especially with the weakening of our ranks due to COVID-19 infection,” he added.
The group argued that a budget increase for the education sector is needed both to address the challenges presented by distance learning currently as well as to prepare schools long term for any future disease outbreaks similar to COVID-19.
“Specifically, to ensure the youth’s right to education, we call on Congress to fund the provision of gadgets, self-learning modules, and other tech infrastructure for distance learning. All teachers and indigent learners must be issued laptops/tablets and internet allowance of at least P1,500/month," ACT said.
In addition to this, the teacher unionists called for sufficient protection and compensation for both teaching and non-teaching personnel.
"Being frontliners, it’s only just that the government fully subsidize COVID-19 testing and treatment of education workers, while teachers should also be finally granted sick leave benefits. Finally, ensure school safety by addressing age old shortages in sanitation facilities and personnel, and providing clinics and nurses in every school."
READ: Teachers' group lists requisites for 'quality education' amid COVID-19 pandemic
— Bella Perez-Rubio with a report from The STAR