LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal government is willing to allocate some P3 million from the local school board fund this year to augment the resources of the education department to ensure the timely reproduction of learning materials for distribution to enrolled elementary and high school students in time for the implementation of blended learning when classes start on August 24, 2020.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda said the aforesaid mount that will be submitted to the local school board for approval of the realignment will be equally divided between the elementary and high school sectors to guarantee the availability of the learning materials right at the start of classes by next month.
He claimed the funds will be used to procure heavy duty reproduction machines to be operated by the technical personnel of the education department to reproduce learning materials for distribution to enrolled students at the start of classes in their blended learning activities.
Mayor Salda explained the realigned funds will come from the earlier allocations made by the local school board for the town’s participation to the provincial athletic meet but the same was reduced to only P3 million because of the possibility that the municipal government cannot meet its projected collection of real property taxes primarily due to the effect of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic to the local economy.
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According to him, the realignment of the aforesaid amount from the local school board fund will be calendared for deliberation next week so that the same could be immediately used by the education department for its programmed procurement of the heavy-duty reproduction machines in time for the reproduction of learning materials.
Aside from the limited funds committed by the municipal government, the municipal chief executive disclosed that the provincial government led by Gov. Melchor D. Diclas assured the availability of some P6 million that will be equally divided by the 14 districts to augment the funds of the 13 municipal governments to assist the needs of the education department in time for the opening of classes.
Earlier, regional and division education officials met with local chief executives from the province’s 13 towns to get their commitments on augmentation of their resources from the local governments officials for the implementation of blended learning during the new normal.
Salda admitted the tax collection efforts of all local governments had been significantly affected by the global pandemic and projected tax collection goals might not be realized as the income of the people had also been heavily impacted and concerned agencies should understand that the local governments can only spare what is readily available to assist the education department in the implementation of the blended learning in the country’s education system as educators were compelled to embrace the new normal during the resumption of classes on August 24, 2020.
By Hent
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