Webinar: How is the gov’t funding distance learning in 2021

Even during a pandemic, the government made sure that education remains one of its priorities. 

In a virtual press briefing, Department of Education Secretary Leonor Briones announced that the school year will officially start on October 5. The announcement was made despite qualms of students, parents, and teachers as they raised concerns about various remote learning woes.

The department has introduced the distance learning approach as schools’ main method in conducting their classes, veering away from the traditional face-to-face education.

In August, the executive branch submitted its proposed P4.5-trillion budget for 2021 to Congress. A large chunk of it, amounting to P606.5 billion, will be allocated to the DepEd. 

The agency, however, admitted that this budget is not enough to fully support the resources and operational needs to continue distance learning in the next year. According to the DepEd, it needs an extra P10 billion for the preparation and reproduction of self-learning modules (SLM). (READ: Additional P10B in 2021 budget sought for printing of DepEd’s learning modules)

Congress is still weighing the pros and cons of the executive branch’s proposed budget, as well as the DepEd’s appeal for additional funding for SLMs.

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MovePH, Rappler’s civic engagement arm, and the Institute of Leadership, Empowerment and Democracy (iLEAD) teamed up to organize #BudgetWatch, a webinar series aiming to engage the public in demanding lawmakers to craft a budget that fully supports the fight against the negative impact of the pandemic on the country.

For the second installment of the #BudgetWatch webinar series which will happen on Thursday, October 1, at 3 pm, we will talk about how the government plans to fund the shift to distance learning. This episode will be co-hosted by Aral Pilipinas and Synergeia Foundation.

iLEAD’s Zy-za Suzara will provide the organization’s analysis of the education budget.

This will be followed by a roundtable discussion with Synergeia Foundation’s trustee former governor Rafael Coscolluela, Aral Pilipinas’ James Francis Miradora, and the Development Management dean of the Asian Institute of Management, Juan Miguel Luz.

A mother of 3 and an education advocate, Liezl Mauricio from Bagong Silang, Caloocan will also join the discussion to talk about how the education budget will affect her family.

Rappler multimedia reporter Aika Rey will moderate the panel discussion. 
To register for the webinar, visit this link.

Inputs from this webinar will be consolidated into concrete budget items and action plans that iLEAD will submit to concerned legislators before the budget season ends this year. – Rappler.com