BAGUIO CITY September 22 – The City School Board approved the realignment of funds from the unused appropriations of its previous budget to complete the funding requirement of P5 million that will be used to finish the Alternative Learning System (ALS) building of the education department which will be constructed within the compound of the Quezon Elementary School.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan, chairman of the City School Board, said the P3.5 million realigned funds from the board’s previous budget will be used to augment the P2 million the local government earlier earmarked for the initial funding for the construction of the ALS building.
“WE have to complete the ALS building the soonest using our available funding requirements so that it will be used for its prescribed purpose and that the local government will be able to cater to the needs of the increasing enrolees to the government’s ALS program among others.. We have to make sure that the foundation of the structure will be able to accommodate additional floors in the future because of our problem on the lack of space to expand the structures once there will influx of ALS enrolees who could no longer able accommodated in the area,”Domogan stressed.
The local chief executive underscored the importance of today’s youth having to acquire higher levels of education through various means so that they will be able to land in jobs suitable for their skills and knowledge that will allow them to have gainful employment in the future.
According to him, education is still the best inheritance that parents and guardians could provide their children through the assistance of the government for them to be able to be productive in the future considering that it cannot be easily taken away from them.
He added the City School Board will continue to maximize the utilization of the Special Education Fund in order to ensure that the local government will be able to provide the basic needs of public elementary and secondary schools in the city to be able to provide the schoolchildren quality education that will serve as their foundation in becoming productive citizens in the future.
Under existing rules and regulations, the City School Board is empowered to allocate the Special Education fund, which comes from the overall collection of the local government from real property taxes, to bankroll the implementation of various programs and projects related to education.
He pointed out the ALS program is important because it provides opportunities for today’s youth who were not able to pursue their basic education for the regular schoolyear to be upgraded by taking the appropriate exams for them to be accelerated and complete their education.
He appealed to various schools in the city whose programs and projects were not included as part of those that were funded this year to be patient enough in waiting for their turn to be given funding in the future considering the numerous priority education programs that need immediate attention from the national and local governments.
By Dexter A. See
