May Budget Ba para sa Edukasyon ng PWDs?

By: Tiffany Tan, ASP Board Secretary

“Priority ba ang mga taong may kapansanan sa Pilipinas? Ano ang budget allocation ng gobryerno para sa EDUKASYON nila? Ito ay isang mahalang indicator,” said Ranil Sorongon, ASP Executive Director during the Forum on “K to 12” Program and the Education of Persons with Disabilities.

The forum was part of the 33rd NDPR Week Celebrations with the theme “Making the Rights Real for Filipinos with Disabilities”, sponsored by the National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA) held at CHED Auditorium, UP Diliman Campus, Quezon City on July 19, 2011.

Other Parent Support Organizations who joined the Forum were Dr. Rose Aligada, Board of Advisers of AD/HD Society and Gen. Eliseo Dela Paz, External Vice President of Parents Advocates for Visually Impaired Children (PAVIC).

(from left) Gen. Eliseo Dela Paz, ASP Executive Director Ranil Sorongon
and Dr. Rose Aligada

Sorongon, who is also a member of the Sub Committee on Children with Disabilities of the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), posted the following statements to the panel of speakers from Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and National Council for Disability Affairs (NCDA).

First, viewing Persons with Disabilities is a matter of perspective or paradigm. Do we look at persons with disabilities from a medical or charity perspective or on the human rights level?

Second, on Education, Training and Employment, PWDs should be treated on an EQUAL basis with others. 104 years na ang Special Education sa Pilipinas pero ayon sa DepEd 90% of school aged children with disabilities have no access to education. We should establish schools in the community, so that children with disabilities will have access to education.

Third, Sa 2012 ang Pilipinas, as signatory of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, will be submitting a report sa UN Committee on the Rights of PWD. The National Council on Disability Affairs headed by Dir. Mateo Lee, Jr will be preparing the government report, while the Philippine Coalition on the UNCRPD will also be submitting a parallel report. We trust that the status of education, training and employment will be incorporated in the two reports so that the UN Committee will give appropriate recommendation to improve the situation.

Yesterday, July 26, 2011, President Aquino submits to Congress the 2012 Proposed National Budget of P1.816 trillion. The Department of Education (DepEd) continues to receive the highest budgetary allocation of P238.8 billion: a 15.2 percent increase from its budget of P207.3 billion last year.

This budget will fund the hiring of 13,000 more teachers next year, construction and rehabilitation of 45,231 classrooms, procurement of more than 2.53 million school desks and chairs, and construction of 25,667 water and sanitation facilities in schools nationwide. (Source: Department of Budget and Management).

The question “Priority ba ang mga taong may kapansanan sa Pilipinas? Ano ang budget allocation ng gobryerno para sa EDUKASYON nila? remains to be answered.

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ASP continues to keep you posted on the activities of NDPR Week. To read more about education for persons with autism, click here.