Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, September 10) — College and universities established by local governments are appealing for financial support as they adjust to the new normal in education.
“Budget allocation is seen as a challenge,” Rene Colocar, auditor of the Association of Local Colleges and Universities (ALCU), told House lawmakers on Thursday during a hearing on the concerns of higher education institutions on distance learning.
Colocar noted that local schools have to realign their budget due to prioritization of needs on the new kind of schooling.
This “caused some problems in salary of contractual service personnel and other budgetary needs,” he said.
Colocar also pointed out that some teachers were forced to shell out money to buy laptops, and even their own printer and ink for modules.
The ALCU officer also said the hiring of additional staff was “deferred due to income of local governments caused by the pandemic.”
He also said the realigned funds have been spent on learning material production and internet infrastructure upgrade.
“IT experts from different local colleges agreed that to support the needs for the new normal in education, we need to establish the infrastructure, software, hardware, and boost the internet speed,” he noted.
He said that a local school with 14,000 population needs an estimated P13.8 million to have an IT system for online learning, adding that it “will cost a lot to establish since the market is continuously changing.”
He said the cost of the IT infrastructure will always vary on the number faculty members.
There are 70 local colleges and universities that are accredited by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and 53 more have pending application with CHED, Colocar said.
There are also 10 local colleges and universities which have been newly established, he added.
CHED Executive Director Cinderella Jaro told the same hearing that local colleges and universities are entitled to the benefits provided under the proposed Bayanihan to Recover As One Act. Once it becomes law, teaching, and non-teaching personnel of private and public schools who have lost their jobs during lockdowns are entitled to a one-time cash assistance.
The measure also states that subsidies and allowances must be provided to “qualified students in public and private schools whose families are facing financial difficulties brought about by work stoppage and closure of establishments due to community quarantine.”
In mid-March, the government imposed a Luzon-wide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, prompting schools to shut their doors.
Officials have begun gradually easing restrictions in June to help the ailing economy recover, but face-to-face classes are still not allowed until a vaccine becomes available for mass rollout.
