The
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P11.2 billion to the
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the provision and maintenance
of basic education facilities, including elementary and secondary schools,
technical-vocational laboratories, and water and sanitation facilities.
The
amount, sourced from the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Basic Education
Facilities Fund in the 2016 General Appropriations Act (GAA), was released to
DPWH in accordance with their role as the official construction arm of the
government.
“In
2014, we closed the classroom gap we inherited and we’ve built over 86,000
classrooms since 2010. This latest release is the next step towards ensuring
that Filipino students have ample room to learn, given the implementation of
the K-12 program and the growing population of students,” Budget Secretary
Florencio B. Abad said.
The
breakdown for the release, broken down into four batches, saw P10.43 billion
allotted towards school buildings and P365 million for technical-vocational
laboratories. While the infrastructure will be constructed by DPWH, DepEd will
identify and prescribe the standards and specifications of these buildings.
“DPWH
and DepEd will work together to design plans for these infrastructure projects.
We want to ensure that any public works resulting from this release must be
environmentally friendly and built at an efficient cost,” Secretary Abad added.
Aside
from the four batches of releases for education infrastructure, DBM also
released P523.56 million for the provision of school furniture, including desks
and other fixtures, for newly constructed school buildings, with P300.4 million
coming from the 2015 GAA and the remaining P223.2 million sourced from the
current year’s budget. (pr/DBM)
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