THE SENATE has approved the P629.8 billion budget of the Department of Education for 2022.

The allocation is 6 percent higher than the agency’s P595 billion budget in 2021.

Senator Pia Cayetano, who sponsored the budget, lauded the DEPED for pushing the safe reopening of schools.

“I am very proud that we are now finally opening the doors of our schools and welcoming the students back to the classrooms. I congratulate Secretary Briones and her team for relentlessly pushing hard for the President to acknowledge the importance of the resumption of classes for our young learners,” Cayetano said.

The budget for the General Management and Supervision was increased from P7.61 billion to P8.09 billion to fund the health and safety needs of schools in implementing face-to-face classes next school year.

In line with this, DepEd also appropriated P358 million for the newly created program called the Priority School Health Facilities in response to the Covid19 pandemic.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones thanked the Senate for recognizing the department’s need to sustain the development of its program that mainly focuses on education recovery.

“On behalf of the DepEd family, we thank and welcome our senators’ inputs for effectively allocating these funds that will surely build upon our capacity to provide the needs of our learners and teachers especially that we are gradually reopening the schools,” Briones said.