The Department of Education (DepEd) and its attached agencies are set to receive a P629.8 billion budget for its National Expenditure Program (NEP) for 2022 which is six percent higher than last year’s budget.
DepEd on Thursday, Nov. 25, announced that it has “successfully defended” its approved budget for 2022 amounting to P629.8 billion before the Senate of the Philippines on Nov. 22.
The agency said that its 2022 budget is six percent higher than the P595 billion budget in 2021 to “primarily support the expansion of safe face-to-face classes.”
Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones thanked the Senate for recognizing the DepEd’s need to sustain the development of its program that mainly focuses on education recovery.
“On behalf of the DepEd family, we thank and welcome our senators’ inputs for effectively allocating these funds that will surely build upon our capacity to provide the needs of our learners and teachers especially that we are gradually reopening the schools,” Briones said.
DepEd said that has seen a significant increase in budget allocations in its big-ticket programs.
This include the Computerization Program (94.27 percent) and Government Assistance and Subsidies (5.73 percent) which covers the Senior High School (SHS) voucher program, among others.
Meanwhile, DepEd noted that the budget for the General Management and Supervision (MOOE) has also increased from P7.61 billion to P8.09 billion.
This is fund the health and safety needs of the schools in implementing face-to-face classes next school year.
Related to this, DepEd also appropriated P358 million for the newly created program called the “Priority School Health Facilities” in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
DepEd said that after the Senate Plenary Hearing, its 2022 budget “now awaits bicameral deliberations for their approval before the President.”
During her opening speech, budget sponsor and Senator Pia Cayetano lauded the DepEd for its efforts to push for the safe reopening of schools which started in public schools on Nov. 15 and in private schools on Nov. 22
READ:
https://mb.com.ph/2021/11/16/first-day-of-pilot-face-to-face-classes-very-successful-deped/
“I am very proud that we are now finally opening the doors of our schools and welcoming the students back to the classrooms,” Cayetano said as she congratulated Briones and her team for “relentlessly pushing hard for the President to acknowledge the importance of the resumption of classes for our young learners.”
