Pamantasan ng Cabuyao

Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

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ED604
THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM II

MIDTERM EXAMINATION

REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS

Implication of the 2020 Low Budget Appropriation

of the Department of Education

Submitted by:

RHEA J. TORRES
MaEd Student

Submitted to:

ERIBERTO R. TANGCANGCO, EdD/(PhD)

Professional Lecturer

Second Semester
22 February 2020
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

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Implication of the 2020 Low Budget Appropriation of the Department of Education

Reflective Analysis

For the 2020 National Budget, the Education Department was allocated the biggest slice of

the cake at P692.6-billion of which P551-billion was allotted for Basic Education under the

Department of Education.

Education is affected by budget cuts as was the case when the DBM slashed DepEd’s budget

in 2018 from P580-billion to P531.6-billion in 2019. With each new fiscal year, the administration’s

various agencies formulate their department budgets and annually, those are all subjected to scrutiny

by the country’s lawmakers and would either be approved or disproved. The education sector got

P692.6 billion, a combined allocation from the DepEd and its attached agencies (P551.7 billion), the

State Universities and Colleges (P77.4 billion), and the Commission on Higher Education (P46.73

billion).

Although the department enjoyed a P20-billion increase in its annual appropriation, from

P531.6-billion in 2019 to P551.7-billion in 2020 and majority of the shares in the government’s

P692.6-billion allocation for the education sector, DepEd officials said some of their key projects

suffered deficits in the Department of Budget and Management (DBM)-prepared spending plan.
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Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

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Since 2010, as depicted in the graph below, the Education sector has been receiving the

highest allocation of funds from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM)-prepared

spending plan. The framers of the 1987 Constitution did so as well when they crafted Section XIV,

which in part says that the State should assign the highest budgetary priority to education.
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Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

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Of the varying multitude of categories involved in the Education sector’s budget allocation,

four (4) significant areas of interest are discussed in the proceeding paragraphs.

First, the Department “welcomes the inclusion of the salary increase” for teaching and non-

teaching employees of the department effective January 2020 in this year’s budget. This is an added

motivation for almost a million personnel of the department.

For the teachers to remain interested in teaching and for the best teachers to stay here in the

country, the remuneration package must be made very appealing. The government must learn how to

take care of them so that they can nurture the students in return. Society might not realize how

important teachers are, but the proposed salary hike for them will be more competitive, and the

system can produce more and more teachers considered “best” in their areas. This is probably the

best investment the government can put into the education system; this will empower the teachers to

do better in their jobs and thus producing better students, who can make intelligent decisions

including the one where it requires an individual to choose a leader for the country. The government

must be diligent and aggressive in addressing the plight of the country’s teachers and do what is

necessary to uplift the working conditions and other factors that are prompting teachers to quit thus

making it harder for school districts to retain and attract highly qualified teachers: low pay, a

challenging school environment, and weak professional development support and recognition. In

addition to tackling these factors for all schools, the government must provide extra support and

funding to high-poverty schools, where teacher shortages are even more of a problem.
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

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Second, the decrease in funding for Basic Education Inputs program, particularly for the new

construction of school buildings, is a huge challenge to the department as it will adversely affect the

mapping out of a lower classroom-to-student ratio for the coming school years. While the

department’s fund for the construction of school buildings doubled from this year’s P10.4 billion to

the proposed P20 billion for next year, the DepEd said it was actually requesting P171 billion for the

construction of 64,795 new classrooms all over the country. The 2020 proposed fund only covers the

construction of 10,000 classrooms.

As with any action, there is a corresponding reaction or consequence that would ensue. In this

case, there could very well exist a snowball or domino effect if the DepEd will experience a

continued reduction of budget in the coming years. With budget cuts, there will be an increase in the

backlog of educational resources and if not addressed in a timely manner, will entail widespread and

detrimental effects on an already overworked educational system.

With the ever-increasing backlog of much-needed infrastructure (i.e. classrooms), the

possibility of a combination (having 2 grade levels in one class) or a multi-grade (having 2-3 varying

grade levels) classroom will be not just be seen in far-flung areas of the country. With the inevitable

enormous shortage of classrooms in the coming years due to further budget cuts or a restrictive

budget, even the schools in urban and rural areas will be forced to make students from different
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Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

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grades sit together in one room. It is such an erroneous assumption to expect that any teacher,

regardless of her experience, will be able to equally engage all the students at once. While the teacher

feels the burden to even ensure basic discipline in the class, it is the students who suffer in the long

run with their learning levels being well and truly compromised, going from bad to worse.

Originally, the multi-grade classroom concept was established for learners who belong to

isolated and financially challenged communities, are indigenous peoples, and reside in far-flung

mountains and islands where schools are far apart from each other and if a class does not meet the

required number of enrollees and therefore it is not viable to conduct a monograde class of limited

number of pupils. It was part of the DepEd’s thrust to democratize access to education and make the

learning experience inclusive to as many sectors.

The DepEd is also looking into constructing state-of-the-art medium to high-rise school

buildings, complete with airconditioned rooms and elevators and escalators in order to solve the

perennial classroom shortages. The idea sounds impressive and it could very well solve the shortage.

However, the cost of maintaining such facilities are correspondingly high.

Over time, the shortage would most likely open a new era on how education will be obtained.

Alternative Distance Learning has gained traction in the education scene for the last seven decades.
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Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

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Virtual classrooms will be a viable solution to lessen both the traffic congestion in highly urbanized

areas of the country and to decongest traditional classrooms to address the need to build more

infrastructure. Alternative Distance Learning will allow students to do their schoolwork without

coming to school every day. Instead, the students will study at home, armed with a module that has

been provided for them by their schools and report to school for exams and group activities. The

government would find it more economical to subsidize an Alternative Distance Learning program in

the long run. Virtual students who are financially challenged who will prefer to take this route will be

granted the means by the government to be able to “attend” those virtual classes.

Third, there exists a need to address the P14-billion budget shortfalls to cover all 1.29 million

learners under the Senior High School Voucher Program (SHS VP) for 2020. The DBM-

recommended P31.2-billion budget for 2020, from the P51.9-billion the DepEd originally proposed.

This means that the DepEd would be forced to cut down on the number of beneficiaries in order to

work within the budget allocated for the program. There is concern that as many as 500,000 would

drop out of senior high school as a result of the proposed cutbacks that would limit the voucher

program for those learners. Without these vouchers, some student-beneficiaries in private schools

may have no choice but to transfer to public schools which will affect the teacher-ratio in classrooms.

While there may be enough to provide subsidy to existing beneficiaries of the program, acceptance of

new beneficiaries will be affected if the budget is not restored to the present level. The financial
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Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

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subsidy aims to make private education a viable option for learners in fulfilment of the department’s

mandate to make basic education accessible to all.

The SHS VP is a financial assistance program that enables underprivileged but qualified

senior high school students to study in private schools, state and local universities and colleges.

Lastly, the DepEd proposed a P10.45-billion budget from the DBM for hiring of 43,313

teachers, but was only given P1.27 billion to accommodate 10,000 recruits. With the inability to hire

the additional manpower to facilitate the learning of an ever-increasing student population year after

year, it is not surprising to witness the decline of the quality of education evident in many areas of

learning. A shortage of teachers harms students, teachers, and the public education system as a

whole. Lack of sufficient, qualified teachers and staff instability threaten students’ ability to learn

and reduce teachers’ effectiveness due to being overloaded and overworked, and high teacher

turnover consumes economic resources that could be better deployed elsewhere. In addition, the fact

that the shortage is distributed so unevenly among students of different socioeconomic backgrounds

challenges the Philippine education system’s goal of providing a sound education equitably to all

children.

DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones said there are currently 900,000 teachers in the country that

educate 27 million students from kindergarten to senior high school (SHS). It is quite blatantly
 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

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obvious that the teacher to student ratio is nowhere near adequate, especially in the public school

system.

Discussion of probable or even impending budget cuts allow many to speculate the negative

impact it will inevitably have on a particular matter. In most cases, this assumption is justified;

however, some may argue the contrary. For instance, examine closely the impact a lower budget will

have on education. Though there can be detrimental effects to schools, it could also be argued that a

budget cutback forces the school body to be more analytical and critical of its processes. For most

educators, which include superintendents, board of education, administrators and teachers; this

provides them an opportunity to think unconventionally in terms of how efficiently their money is

spent on educational services. The resulting outcome could correspond to improved teaching

methods that are more environmentally friendly, practical and cost efficient.

Another way that budget cuts can be positive is that it forces schools and teachers to execute

and practice energy efficient strategies to cut costs. Schools turning out the lights and electric fans

when classrooms are empty have saved energy and costs in electricity. Other measures such as

closing the doors and lowering the thermostat settings of air-conditioning units have lessened energy

consumption and cost. These practices are positive for schools and excellent lessons for the students

to get in the habit of applying. Without the inevitability of budget cuts, schools would be less

mindful to consider these energy efficiency methods.

 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

graduate school
Though budget cuts may not be desirable on many fronts, there is some good that comes from

it. From a systems perspective, it forces the education system to evaluate its entire process for

efficiency and areas for improvement. Many times, processes are overlooked until the need for them

to be revitalized arises. Important areas such as school resources and energy efficient strategies are

brought to the forefront in a time of crisis. Fortunately, matters such as these are evaluated and

improved which sometimes leads to even greater accomplishments. Due to budget cuts, schools are

actually assisting in making the world a safer and more environmentally friendly place to live. Even

better methods of teaching are being analyzed due to budget cuts which may not only save money,

but it could improve education in general.

The negative effects of education budget cuts are being experienced in all levels of education.

Unfortunately, the low-income students are affected the most. Other at-risk students; students with

disabilities and students of special needs, will also feel the effects of the education budget cuts before

other students. The increased cuts can create larger student/teacher ratios and diminish the quality of

education the students receive. It is imperative that the government find alternative cuts that will

have less of an impact on the opportunity to quality education affecting students. Alternative

accountability assessments should be implemented to improve access to education as well as true

accountability of educational institutes - schools should be held accountable for providing a good

education for all. These budget cuts only underscore the need to expand the tax base, starting with

more people and firms paying the right amount of taxes and for government to reduce wasteful

spending and eradicating corruption that divert valuable resources.

 Pamantasan ng Cabuyao
Katapatan Subdivision, Banay-Banay, Cabuyao Laguna

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Systematic disinvesting in education is not something the present administration should

continue doing. This has potentially affected all aspects of school quality, from teachers to school

environment to instructional materials used in the classroom. By underfunding schools year after

year, too many schools are doing a great disservice to their students—and they are potentially

harming the nation’s long-term economic potential. The government should increase funding for

K-12 public schools. In addition, the government can play a role in investing in teacher pay, first, by

rejecting administration efforts to cut funding and, then, by expanding existing funding streams. It

can also bring forward any of a number of proposals to improve teacher compensation that have

recently been introduced in Congress. If education is truly to be an engine of opportunity and

economic mobility, the government must invest far more in the communities that need resources

most.