A group of education workers on Friday, May 21, lamented the government’s “late and insufficient” efforts to provide for the needs of the education sector under the ongoing pandemic situation.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) alleged that due to the government's “negligence and slow response ” - one school year has already been sacrificed.
“The already measly allocation is even put to waste due to inefficiency, while our teachers and students hurdle distance learning without enough teaching and learning resources,” said criticized ACT Secretary General, Raymond Basilio.
ACT slammed the announcement of DepEd of procuring of 68,500 laptops for its personnel to be distributed in July as well as the late printing of third and fourth quarter modules as revealed by DepEd in the Lower House Committee on Education and Culture hearing on May 20.
Drop in an empty bucket
DepEd said that the expected laptops worth Php2.4 billion, is funded by the Php4.3 billion financial assistance given to the DepEd under the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act (Bayanihan 2), which was signed into Law last September 2020.
However, Basilio noted that the “education sector needs way more than that.” Basilio noted that the 68,500 laptop units could only cover seven percent of DepEd personnel’s laptop needs - calling it just a “drop in an empty bucket.”
Basilio said ACT survey last April showed that only 4 to 6 percent public school teachers nationwide use laptops provided by the DepEd, while 2 to 6 percent use laptops provided by the local government units.
“The great majority of teachers use personally acquired laptops for distance learning,” ACT said. “Alarmingly, 6 percent of teachers said that halfway into the school year, they still have no laptop to use for distance learning,” it added.
Damage has been done already
During the Congress hearing, ACT noted that the learning modules for 3rd and 4th quarter grading period “cannot be used this school year due to late printing.” ACT expressed dismay over the printed modules that can no longer be used. “It is no consolation that these can still be used for the next school year as the damage has already been done,” Basilio said.
Given all these, Basilio urged the government to ensure that the teachers’ “hellish” experience this school year will not be repeated in the next.
“The current school year is about to end, and the planning for the next one should be well-underway,” Basilio said.
He added that the key to this is for the Bayanihan 3 Act to succeed were the 2021 General Appropriations Act (GAA) failed—allocate sufficient budget for the needs of education.
Basilio also noted DepEd must seriously address its efficiency issues, learning from its “blunders and weaknesses” this year. “Our teachers and students deserve a lot better from this government,” he ended.