THE ALLIANCE of Concerned Teachers  on Monday lambasted the Department of Education’s “notoriously sluggish” disbursement of funds every year.

It claimed that DepEd’s poor fiscal performance compelled teachers and learners to shoulder the costs of education, which is significantly more expensive now because of the distance learning setup.

The reaction came after Senator Edgardo ‘Sonny’ Angara called out DepEd for failing to fully obligate and disburse funds from Bayanihan 2 which is set to expire on June 30, 2021.

The senator said that it was only recently that DepEd obligated a mere 62 percent or P2.506 billion of the P4 billion budget from Bayanihan 2, with only P32 million disbursed by May 7, 2021. He added that DepEd has “zero obligation rate” for the allotted P300 million for provision of subsidies and allowances to qualified students.

“Napakaliit na nga ng pondo sa edukasyon, hindi pa mapakinabangan nang buo at mabilis ng mga guro at estudyante dahil sa kabagalan ng DepEd. Instead, pandemic-hit teachers and families are forced to use their own meagre incomes to fund the hefty needs of education. So it’s not just about fiscal irresponsibility anymore, but DepEd’s commission of a grave injustice against its constituents,” Raymond Basilio, the ACT’s secretary general, decried.

He cited the recently announced provision of 30 to 35GB of monthly data for three months to around 900,000 public school teachers, with less than two months left in the current school year.

He explained that the benefit could have been helpful had it been given “much earlier.”

“Even worse is if you think of all our students who had fallen out of their classes because they can no longer afford the costs of distance learning and to this day had not received any support from DepEd. In such cases, the cost of DepEd’s poor handling of the people’s money is poor students’ loss of their right to education. That’s unacceptable and DepEd must do something to correct this and avoid similar problems in the future,” Basilio said.

The group called on Congress to increase funding for education and ensure that these provisions are enjoyed by education workers and learners.

ACT estimated that P120.38 billion is needed to provide the needs of distance learning — including internet allowances and gadgets for learners and teachers; health protection and benefits for education frontliners; and preparations for limited face-to-face classes in low-risk areas.