SENATORIAL candidate Herbert “Bistek” Bautista yesterday said government should go full blast in building schools, hiring more teachers and buying textbooks and other educational materials amid its plan to resume face-to-face classes in many parts of the country.
Bautista, who was a former mayor of Quezon City, noted that government has 18 weeks left to prepare the 47,612 public schools for the expected August opening of school year 2022-23.
“Preparations for our children’s education should be as focused as preparations for the national elections… If COVID-19 cases will continue to be low, it will eventually end the longest physical closure of schools in our history,” Bautista said.
The former mayor said the 24 million public school returnees should not go back to schools “with deficiencies that the pandemic has worsened. “
“Kailangan may sapat na bilang ng classrooms at teachers, bagong libro, at mga kumpletong kagamitan (We should have sufficient number of classrooms, textbooks and other school materials),“ he stressed.
To ensure that these are ready by the time that schools reopen, Bautista said the Department of Education (DepEd) must spend without delay its “mega allocation” in the 2022 national budget.
“For example, the DepEd has in its disposal P3.18 billion for new classrooms and laboratory this year,” said Bautista, who is running under the platform of internet reform, Livelihood for all and Youth development, or ILY.
On top of this, he added, is a P1.03-billion allocation for the repair and renovation of school buildings and P1.12 billion earmarked for school desks and other furniture.
Bautista also batted for the “speedy acquisition” of items listed in the P1.5-billion fund to modernize “last mile schools,” which are located in poor and hard-to-reach areas.
But what should be given the highest priority, Bautista stressed, is the hiring of new teachers and the promotion of those whose assignment or length of service make them deserving of a salary hike.
DepEd has 990,995 authorized personnel positions, of which 46,632 are vacant.
“Let us fill these with competent, qualified and dedicated teachers,” Bautista said.
