A group on Friday, Aug. 20, slammed the Department of Education (DepEd) for the “questionable” use of distance learning funds amidst the pandemic.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines hit DepEd’s questionable use of more than P8.1-billion of the P16.1-billion Basic Education - Learning Continuity Plan (BE-LCP) funds as reported by the Commission on Audit (COA).
The group noted that these lapses “played a major role in the worsening state of Philippine education” at a time of severe health and economic crises.
For ACT, DepEd’s “tone-deaf, proud claims” on the P15.5-billion total DepEd budget flagged by COA --- which the latter said was a “great improvement” from last year’s P25-billion.
“Teachers had to literally empty their pockets and even take out loans to fill in the gaps not only in the funding for education but also in the delays and lapses in DepEd’s use of the same,” said ACT Secretary General Raymond Basilio.
Basilio added that the students’ welfare and rights “suffered greatly” in the further decline of education quality and access.
“To DepEd, these are just matters of reports that need to be adjusted, standards that need to be met, no big deal; but these weigh heavily on teachers and students who reel from the effects of their incompetence,” Basilio lamented.
Citing the COA report, ACT noted that DepEd was the flagged for the P8-billion amount - or half of the BE-LCP allotment - which had to do with the agency’s procurement of printed materials from suppliers who have “limited capacity to print in bulk, which resulted to the delay, incomplete, or total non-availability of modules” for school year 2020–2021.
“Our public school teachers were forced to produce modules and other learning materials—meaning, to write their own and then reproduce them either by soliciting materials from private entities or by out-of-pocket funding, because of DepEd’s inefficiency to provide the needed resources on time,” Basilio said.
Basilio added that to deliberately procure module printing from unqualified suppliers is “peak incompetency that not only burdened our overworked and underpaid teachers but, worse, denied millions of students access to quality education amid the pandemic and socio-economic crisis.”
The group also noted DepEd’s “failure to distribute” during SY 2020–2021 the laptops and internet allowances of teachers which were funded by “Bayanihan 2.” “It was only after a month since the school year closed that DepEd finally released the guidelines for the laptop distribution, which ACT noted provided a huge number to heads and administrators,” ACT said.
ACT also pointed out that the data allowances provided towards the end of July through the DepEd-issued SMART sim cards “received multiple complaints” from teachers who were unable to use it due to poor SMART reception in their areas. Thus, it also called on COA to “look into the procurement” of the SMART sim cards.
Basilio argued that the DepEd must be held to “account” for all these -- noting that COA’s findings on irregularities point to the “fact that the main problem lies on DepEd’s policies and operations.”
With less than a month left before a new school year starts on Sept. 13, ACT also urged DepEd to start reporting on its level of preparedness.
The group is also looking forward to the “measures being taken” by DepEd to help ensure that the major problems with last the remote learning set-up last year are being “resolved and prevented” from happening again.
“DepEd owes it to the public to announce in concrete terms how it is addressing the struggles faced by teachers and students, as well as the crises in education exposed and exacerbated in the time of the pandemic,” Basilio added.
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https://mb.com.ph/2021/08/17/deped-on-coa-report-deficiencies-due-to-restricted-mobility-not-corruption-negligence/