Schools finally open
ANGARA EXPEDITES RELIEF FUNDS FOR SCHOOL REHAB

As killer storm Pepeng leaves RP sparing Metro Manila from further damage, Senator Edgardo J. Angara is optimistic about the re-opening of classes and urged government to put more effort into school building rehabilitation.

"The need to address the problem of damaged school buildings and classroom shortages is even more imperative now. We need to restore the learning environment lost to the typhoon," said Angara, former president of the University of the Philippines.

He also pointed to the increasing number of enrollees, especially in public schools, amidst the deteriorating overall quality of education in the country.

Angara filed Senate Bill 911, a comprehensive program which seeks to address the problem of classroom shortage. A salient feature of the bill is the provision of build-operate-transfer, build-lease-transfer, build-transfer, rehabilitate-operate-transfer, and other contractual arrangements that will allow the use of both government and private funds to finance the construction of school buildings. It also creates an inter-agency committee to formulate and ensure the effective implementation of school building projects, as well as integrate all information for the effective monitoring and maintenance of existing school buildings.

"The bill provides a solution to the perennial problem of classroom shortage by making more funds available for school building construction, and integrating implementation and monitoring efforts," he said.

Recently, Angara who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance secured the commitment of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to allocate a P1.316 billion endowment fund for scholarship programs and assistance for the typhoon victims and to repair damaged school infrastructure.

A total of P 6.4 Billion in the Department of Education's (DepEd) budget proposal is allotted for the School Building Program, where P 1.6 billion will be used to build 2,462 classrooms for elementary and secondary schools experiencing severe classroom shortage.

Another P 2.262 billion is earmarked for the construction, repair and rehabilitation of 3,756 classrooms, 2,755 water sanitation facilities and science and internet laboratories.

Angara, who has persistently underscored the need to prioritize human capital investment, urged CHED, DepED and the country's state universities and colleges (SUCs) during last week's budget hearing to focus their budget on four priorities: faculty development, facilities improvement, student scholarship and research, to improve RP's higher education competitiveness.

"We can never go wrong with human capital investment. Not only is education the most effective way to surmount poverty but by creating a pool of engineers, scientists and technically-knowledgeable people, we are better equipped as a country to build a strong disaster response and deal with future natural calamities," said Angara.