Press Release
April 10, 2015

ANGARA SEEKS INSTALLATION OF SOLAR PANELS IN SCHOOLS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY

Senator Sonny Angara has filed a bill that seeks to mandate the installation of solar panels in public elementary and high school buildings nationwide where electricity is not available.

"Unfortunately, there are still public schools in remote areas of the country that are without electricity. We still have public school students who are not yet enjoying the convenience and benefits of having bright-lit classrooms and computers as tools for learning.

"We must address this gap to promote better learning and comprehension skills among our schoolchildren especially in far-flung areas," said Angara.

Senate Bill No. 2597 mandates the Department of Education, in cooperation with the Department of Energy and the Department of Science and Technology, to ensure that solar panels with a capacity of at least 200 watts will be installed to public school buildings not smaller than the size of three classrooms and laboratories or educational support facilities of any size located in barangays where electrical line installation is not available.

SB 2579 is a counterpart of A Teacher partylist representative Julieta Cortuna's House Bill No. 4715.

The lawmaker said that while the National Electrification Administration has an ongoing electrification program which will eventually include all public classrooms around the country, the solar power will serve as either the primary or alternative power source for the benefitted public classrooms.

"When electricity is not available, support technology for a quality education could not be delivered. Our bill aims to ensure that all schools nationwide will have power to energize basic teaching tools such as computers, printers and other laboratory equipment enabling them to deliver the same degree of quality teaching as other schools with electricity," he said.

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