DepEd flunks review due to funds, teachers

STORM’S IMPACT The Santa Teresita National High School in Cagayan province was one of the schools damaged by Supertyphoon “Goring” in 2023. —PHOTO FROM DEPED CAGAYAN

Lawmakers gave failing marks to the Department of Education (DepEd) under Vice President Sara Duterte over unused funds and unfilled teachers’ positions.

Assistant Majority Leaders Jefferson Khonghun of Zambales and Francisco Paolo Ortega V of La Union said Duterte, who was then education secretary, endangered students and teachers when it failed to use P2.08-billion in disaster funds.

The lawmakers noted that more than half of the DepEd’s 2023 allocations for its disaster preparedness and response program (DPRP) and quick response fund (QRF) were unused.

At that time, DepEd had a total allocation of P4.14 billion for the DPRP and QRF in 2023. This did not include P2.24 billion in disaster funds from previous years still available to the agency at the beginning of 2023.

“In Mindanao, there are hundreds of learners in public elementary schools who had no choice but to attend classes in school buildings that were already weakened and rendered unsafe by a recent magnitude 6 earthquake,” Ortega said.

“Millions in taxpayers money were already spent on Temporary Learning Spaces (TLS) but these were not put to good use,” he added.

He cited a Commission on Audit (COA) finding in 2023 cracks were found in classrooms and school buildings that were still being used in the Davao region, particularly in the Libertad, Guilon and Cogon Elementary Schools.

Even Davao region

In the same region, the TLS for the San Jose National High School couldn’t be used because there was no electricity, so students had to use old buildings deemed hazardous.

But DepEd itself highlighted the importance of having TLS due to disasters or emergencies.

Khonghun noted state auditors’ warning that poor planning and improper handling of funds exposed students and teachers to danger.

“The problem is that the Central Office was too slow in submitting the guidelines on the authority and approval of the downloaded funds. This creates the impression that no proper monitoring was undertaken to safeguard the disaster risk reduction and management funds,” Ortega said.

Instead, he said the COA found improper spending of disaster funds for travel, accommodation and seminars by officials of school division offices; and shoddy workmanship on school buildings and support facilities.

In the Senate, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the DepEd to speed up its hiring process to fill up 46,703 vacant positions, of which 58 percent or 26,984 are for teachers.

“The number of teachers we need continues to grow with our student population, and filling the 26,000 vacant positions would help address the teacher shortage,” Gatchalian said on Sunday.

And yet, Gatchalian, chair of the Senate committee on basic education, said DepEd has to create 20,000 more teaching positions in 2025.

Funded, but undone

While the National Expenditure Program (NEP) has allocated P5.50 billion for these new posts, the DepEd said it lacks 56,050 teachers, for which it will require a budget of P15.4 billion.

Gatchalian recalled that the DepEd’s hiring of teachers can take up to six months, involving other agencies, such as the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Budget and Management.“I’m very pleased that next year, we will be hiring 10,000 administrative officers considering that we have about 43,000 schools, so that’s about a fourth of our schools having administrative officers,” Gatchalian said.

The NEP allocates P3.43 billion for the hiring of nonteaching positions, but DepEd said it needs 20,668 nonteaching personnel, a requirement that would cost P7.9 billion.

Gatchalian also reiterated his call for the passage of the “Revised Magna Carta for Public School Teachers” (Senate Bill No. 2493) to uphold the welfare of public school teachers.

The bill aims to institutionalize benefits like calamity leave, educational allowances and longevity pay; defines the conditions for special hardship allowances; and enhances salary criteria for teachers. It also seeks to protect public school teachers from out-of-pocket expenses and ensure equal salaries, benefits and working conditions for entry-level and probationary teachers. INQ