Ni MERLINA HERNANDO-MALIPOT
Nagbabala si Education Secretary Leonor Briones kahapon na milyun-milyong estudyante ang hindi magkakaroon ng silid-aralan sa mga susunod na taon kapag binawasan ng P30 bilyon ang budget para sa school building program ng Department of Education (DepEd).
Nagsalita sa First National Assembly of Educators sa Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) na ginanap sa Pasay City, binanggit ni Briones na hindi man kontra ang DepEd sa “necessary” budget cuts, hindi naman dapat ikompromiso ang kapakanan ng mga mag-aaral
“I’d like to make it very clear, we are not against reducing the budget if it is necessary to reduce the budget because there is a need to fund the SUCs [State Colleges and Universities],” anang Briones.
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“But we would like to suggest a list as to where to the cut should be made on programs and projects which cannot be implemented as an alternative to postponing or cancelling classrooms which will eventually come back to us as another demand,” diin niya.
Nauna rito, ipinahayag ni House Appropriations Committee Chairman at Davao City 1st District Rep. Karlo Nograles na naglipat ang Kongreso ng sapat na pondo para sa lubusang pagpapatupad sa Republic Act (RA) 10931 o Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. Sa P40 bilyon na kailangan para pondohan ang batas sa libreng matrikula sa 2018, P30 bilyon ang kukunin mula sa school building program ng DepEd.
Gayunman, sinabi ni Briones hindi magandang ideya na bawasan ang budget para sa school building dahil matagal nang kulang sa mga silid–aralan ang mga pampublikong paaralan.
“The number of classrooms which will be cancelled for 2017 and 2018 will just be moved to 2019 because you stop the building of the school buildings but you cannot stop the need for it,” paliwanag niya.
Binanggit ni Briones na taun-taon ay mayroong isang milyong mag-aaral ang lumilipat sa public school “and there will be backlog like what happened in the previous yearas.”
“Whether we have funds or not, whether we build it or not there will still a need for it [classrooms],” giit niya.
