DBM, CHEd seal P500-M educ program

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has signed a joint circular with the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) on the guidelines for the implementation of a P500-million program that will boost key academic programs under state colleges and universities (SUCs), in line with the government’s priority growth areas, the Budget department yesterday said.

Budget and Management Secretary Florencio Abad said these high growth areas are the Business Process Outsourcing and tourism industries as well as agriculture and fisheries.

“To better support the Administration’s goal of creating more jobs for our graduates and strengthening the economy, we have to produce competent graduates with highly specialized skills, particularly those that are well-suited to the needs of emerging and highly promising industries,” Abad said.

According to the joint circular, the P500-million fund—which will be charged under the 2012 General Appropriations Act (GAA)—will support the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and capital outlay (CO) requirements of SUCs that have qualified for the program.

Under the circular, these include the development of infrastructure and facilities for implementing the initiative, as well as the improvement of existing academic programs.

The fund will also enable SUCs to conduct industry-responsive training for students and teaching and non-teaching personnel, the Budget department said.

Furthermore, the fund will also be used for priority research projects responsible mining technologies, and precision farming.

Under the program, the government is allocating P125 million for BPO-related programs, accounting for the largest share of the fund.

Agriculture and fisheries will get P115 million while tourism and other emerging sectors will get P105 million each.

 This developed as the DBM said it released P563 million to the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for DepEd’s School Building Program for 2012 to help close the nationwide classroom gap by 2013.

Charged against DepEd’s budget for this year, the fund will be used for the construction, rehabilitation, replacement, completion, and repair of elementary and secondary schools nationwide.

This will be released directly to DPWH and implemented by its District Engineering Offices, the DBM said.

By allocation, the largest allocations will go to Region IV-A, Region III, and the National Capital Region, with P80.6 million, P70.9 million and P66.6 million, respectively.

Abad said the latest fund release will help the DepEd address the classroom gaps by 2013.

“The latest fund release will not only help the DepEd and the DPWH meet their targets by 2013—it will also allow our schools to provide a better learning environment to their students and teachers, many of whom are severely constrained by space limits and the lack of facilities in their own campuses,” Abad said.