Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte remarked on Wednesday that the proposed budget of P758 billion for the Department of Education (DepEd) in fiscal year 2024 is insufficient to cover all the projects aimed at enhancing the country’s basic education.
Duterte expressed this observation during a hearing by the House committee on appropriations. She made the statement in response to Albay Representative Edcel Lagman’s query about whether the agency’s budget in the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) adequately addresses its priority projects and programs.
“Yes, there is not enough budget to address all the projects and the programs the Department of Education wants to implement to improve basic education in our country,” the DepEd chief said.
DepEd, along with its attached agencies, is requesting a budget of P758.6 billion for the year 2024. This allocation represents a 5.1% increase from the agency’s current budget for the year.
As per the 1987 Constitution, “the State shall assign the highest budgetary priority to education.”
During the hearing, Lagman inquired about the appropriate budget allocation for DepEd in the upcoming year.
“For the next fiscal year, we requested approximately P900 billion for the budget of the Department of Education. We were approved approximately 700 billion in the National Expenditure Program,” Duterte answered.
DepEd’s 2024 budget not enough – VP Sara Duterte
In response, she acknowledged the budgetary limitations affecting various agencies, especially the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
She explained that DepEd is pursuing a dual approach to address challenges in basic education: constructing additional classrooms and recruiting more teachers, and establishing a more structured blended learning program.
“We intend to address the congestion in the classrooms, the lacking of classrooms, and the shortage of teachers by levering technology and using the asynchronous and synchronous styles of delivery in teaching,” Duterte said.
“We are trying to innovate in coming up with solutions, considering that we recognize the insufficiency of budgets across all departments,” she added.
The School Year 2023-2024 was officially inaugurated on Tuesday, August 29, across all public schools in the country.
Nonetheless, a noticeable challenge in certain schools is the lack of classrooms and essential facilities like tables and chairs.
DepEd openly acknowledged that some schools grapple with teacher shortages, while others have an excess of educators.
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