The Department of Education (DepEd) has seen a significant increase in budget allocation for its Computerization Program (DCP) and five other programs, according to the agency’s presentation of its 2022 National Expenditure Program (NEP) at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Sept. 21.
The DCP, which aims to provide ICT packages and IT infrastructure in public schools, received P11.3 billion allocation for the 2022 NEP, approximately double the amount allocated in last year’s General Appropriations Act allocation.
DepEd, as an agency, is set to receive P629.8 billion from its proposed P17.02 trillion budget for next year, according to undersecretary for finance Annalyn Sevilla.
“Overall, we have a six-percent increase compared to this year’s budget. The increase actually is more on the PS or the Personnel Services,” Sevilla said.
DepEd’s 2022 NEP is composed of P513 billion for Personnel Service (PS), P96.6 billion for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE), and P19.7 billion for Capital Outlay.
However, the agency received lower allocations on the repair of school buildings (-78%), Gabaldon conservation and restoration (-75%), School-Based Feeding Program (-45%), acquisition of furniture (-39%), flexible learning options (-8.4%), and GAS for Private JHS (-5%).
Meanwhile, the DepEd also recently launched the K to 12 Issues and Trends Explored (KITE) Online Journal to provide an avenue for educational innovations and new insights sharing in curriculum and education policies.
KITE, the official online publication of the Curriculum and Instruction Strand of DepEd, is a quarterly publication that features peer-reviewed academic articles on issues and trends on K to 12 curriculum and DepEd policies essayed in technical reports, and research projects conducted in the regions, divisions, districts, and classrooms nationwide.
The online journal features academic papers and articles related to the curriculum and instruction in the last three years developed by bureaus and field offices.
“This will help teachers learn from the experiences of their colleagues through the sharing of solutions, technical expertise, and lifting each other on the transition to building forward. The first issue of the KITE journal hopes to be a strong beginning, I encourage everyone to celebrate these innovations, learn from our colleagues, and find the implications of this for our profession,” DepEd undersecretary for curriculum and instruction Diosdado M. San Antonio said.
“May this be a challenge to fill the gaps, extend the evidence-based, and anchor the findings to the local context. It is our fervent hope that this will give you insights in finding ways to contribute, engage, and make your best practices more visible as we build powerful communities within the teaching profession and the Philippine education system in general,” San Antonio added.
The KITE Online Journal welcomes the submission of classroom-based researches, case studies, and full-blown research which could be quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. Other submissions include theoretical articles or studies or papers presented to experts and education stakeholders for policy recommendations and technical reports.
