THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers submitted a proposal to senators to add an additional P600 billion to the budget of the Department of Education.

The additional budget, according to ACT, will be used to address the shortages in key basic education facilities and inputs. It will also enable the department to implement 100 percent safe face-to-face classes, improve education access, strengthen the protection of learners’ welfare and uplift the conditions of teachers and education support personnel.

Major items in ACT’s proposal include P230 billion for the construction of about 92,000 classrooms; P107 billion to provide each school with a registrar, nurse, guidance counsellor, librarian, property custodian and security guard; P77 billion for unpaid and new teachers’ benefits; P61 billion for hiring of 147,000 new teachers; P46 billion for laptop for teachers and computer packages for schools; P30.8 billion for health facilities, supplies and other measures for safe face-to-face classes; P13.5 billion for new armchairs/desks; and P7 billion for textbooks, among others.

“We are very much disappointed with the House version of the 2023 budget as it is same-same with the budgets enacted in the past years, which has placed our educational system in such a dismal state. It seems our lawmakers have not learned anything and were unbothered with the grave education crisis,” Dana Beltran, the group’s deputy secretary-general, said.

“Even the blatantly unjustified P150 million confidential funds in the DepEd has remained intact while basic learning needs screams for augmentation. We worry as well with Senator Angara’s statement that this confidential fund will not face objection in Senate as a courtesy to the Vice President. We hope they show some courtesy as well to 24 million leaners and about one million teachers who suffer with lacking learning needs everyday,” Beltran added.

The group also urged senators to open their eyes to realities and see that bold steps in government spending to education is needed to change the course of the country’s declining education system.

“We propose to add P600 billion to the P666 billion proposed new appropriations to DepEd in 2023 and bring the DepEd budget to 5.3 percent of the projected 2022 gross domestic product, closer to the 6 percent recommendation of the United Nations for government spending on education,” Beltran said.