The Department of Education is still hoping Congress would fund the special education program or SPED for next year after its P532 million request for that purpose was not included by the Department of Budget and Management in the National Expenditure Program.
The DBM has claimed said that the agency headed by Vice President Sara Z. Duterte failed to provide sufficient documentation for its request for SPED funding.
"The DBM has cut our budget. We don't know why that budget was removed. But we have presented it to the Congress last week and yesterday (Thursday) hoping that the budget for the SPED will be restored," DepEd Undersecretary for Administration Kris Ablan said in an interview with the Daily Tribune's online morning show, Gising Na!
"It can still be restored. Our congressmen and senators just need to find funding to restore the budget for the SPED," the DepEd official added.
The Teachers' Dignity Coalition earlier called on DepEd to lay down its plan on how to support the implementation of SPED.
For its part, the militant Alliance of Concerned Teachers has asked the agency to rechannel its P150 million confidential funds in its proposed 2023 budget, asserting that it will be of better use if used to fill in the many shortages in learning needs.
