Impact of budget slashes

IF the warnings aired by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) and some groups that the government plans to cut severely the budgets of several education programs, are true, then we should worry.

The number of students who troop to the schools grows each year; it is very rare when the student population drops. In all likelihood, the number of students in the coming school year will rise, and this is one reason why the education sector should be given all the support, monetary or otherwise.

For the public to fully comprehend the impact of budget slashes for education-related programs, it would be well to list them down.

According to the CHEd, the budget for the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education was reduced by 16 percent, from P42.4 billion to P35.3 billion. This program, which was rolled out in school year 2018-2019, provides free tuition to Filipino students in 112 state universities and colleges, 78 local universities and colleges, and all technical-vocation education and training (TVET) programs registered under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda). The program also provides subsidies for students’ other expenses such as books, supplies, transportation and lodging.

The proposed allocation for the Student Financial Assistance Program was also slashed by 87 percent, from P4.1 billion this year to P516 million next year.

The budget allotted for the K- to- 12 program, or the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, which overhauled the country’s education system by adding two years to primary education, was cut by 21 percent, from P3.1 billion to P2.5 billion.

The program, which has a budget of P3 billion this year, was not given any allocation for 2020. With a zero budget, no scholar would be given assistance because under the program,

year to cover his or her expenses.

fret. The commission, which was given a budget of P52.4 billion in 2019, was allotted P40.7 billion in the proposed budget for 2020. That’s a reduction of P11.7 billion.

The budget slashes do not stop there. Traditionally, the Department of Education (DepEd) gets the biggest slice of the national budget, and it should. For next year, the department was allotted P550.8 billion, just 3 percent higher than this year’s P530.2 billion.

But, the allocation for some agencies under the DepEd was also reduced under the proposed national budget for next year. The Philippine High School for the Arts, whose budget this year is P119.4 million, will get P103.6 million next year. The Early Childhood Care and Development Council, meanwhile, will get a 198.9 million budget in 2020, a steep decline from this year’s allocation of P531.8 million. That’s a slash of P332.9 billion!

The National Book Development Board, which was created to ensure that the country has an adequate supply of affordable and quality books, was allotted a budget of P50.8 million for 2020, down from this year’s P70.5 million. The National Council for Children’s

a huge budget cut, from P17.6 million this year to P13.1 million.

The impending budget slashes also prompted the Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (Cocopea), one of the biggest umbrella organizations of private schools, to issue a warning.

The group said under the proposed DepEd budget for 2020, the allocation for the Government Assistance and Subsidies was P21.18 billion, down from this year’s P32.1 billion.

The budget slash would mean that fewer students will be able to avail of the government’s voucher subsidy program.

Cocopea warned that a budget cut would also slash the number

the voucher subsidy program — from 1.2 million this year to 766,995 next year.

The subsidy program bene

schools because they could no longer be accommodated in public schools. For school year 20182019, the more than a million voucher recipients are enrolled in 4,000 private schools nationwide.

The education department, CHEd and other agencies concerned have been doing well in the implementation of programs — some of them innovative — to give more Filipino youth access to learning. The DepEd should be commended for its efforts to bring education even to remote vil

be given all the support to continue its programs and projects.

The government should not scrimp when it comes to educating the Filipino youth for in them rests the country’s hope for the future.