Enactment of budget to pave way for release of P940 M for public school teachers’ training

The enactment of the P1.126 trillion national budget for this year would pave the way for release of P940 million for the training of public school teachers in math, science and English subjects, Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said yesterday.

The amount for teachers’ "training, scholarships and fellowships" this year is P359 million higher than last year’s allocation, Andaya said.

He said this year’s allocation would allow the Department of Education (DepEd) to upgrade the skills of 171,617 English, math and science teachers and 4,882 school supervisors.

"They (teachers) in turn would conduct echo seminars for their colleagues," he said.

A component of improving public school teachers’ competencies in core subjects is the "TeleSerye Para Kay Ma’am," a television program for mentors for distance-learning method.

While teacher training will be a year-round activity, with teachers trooping to state colleges and in-service workshops, most of the participants will, however, take advantage of the summer school break to brush up on skills and earn units for a masters’ degree.