LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The municipal school board approved the request for the realignment of some P4.2 million previously earmarked for the capital town’s participation in this year’s provincial sports meet to fund the implementation of various school improvement and maintenance projects and the payment of the locally paid teachers and other personnel.
Mayor Romeo K. Salda stated that the municipal government, through the school board, thought it wise to maximize the use of the available funds for useful school improvement and maintenance projects and the payment of the salaries of locally paid teachers and other personnel partly to contribute in the continuous implementation of blended learning for the upcoming school year 2021-2022 scheduled to open on September 13, 2021.
He added that other uses for the realigned funds is for the procurement of the required state-of-the-art server in both elementary and high schools for the efficient downloading of learning materials to be reproduced and subsequently distributed to the learners in time for their scheduled online classes before the middle of next month.
Earlier, the municipal government allocated from this year’s annual budget the P4.2 million for the participation of its athletes in the provincial sports meet that was to serve as the elimination round for athletes who will be representing Benguet in the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) meet slated for next year.
Aside from the procurement of the important server, the local chief executive stated that the other proposed projects include the repair of school facilities, including comfort rooms, to ensure the readiness of the local schools when face-to-face classes will be allowed.
According to him, of the aforesaid allotted funds, P2.2 million will be provided to the different elementary schools while P2 million will be set aside for the various high schools in the locality which will come in the form of the compensation for locally paid teachers and other personnel and the implementation of the identified priority development projects of the schools.
Salda claimed that since the conduct of mass gatherings, such as sports competitions like the provincial sports meet, remain suspended, it is important to allow the use of the available funds for equally important projects to continually improve the school facilities in preparation for the future opening of face-to-face classes.
The mayor claimed that this approved realignment of the funds will definitely boost the efforts of the municipal government to address the numerous requests from the different public elementary and high schools for repairs and improvements of their facilities and to ensure their readiness for the implementation of blended learning for the upcoming school year.
He urged school officials and teachers to make do with the implementation of blended learning during the prevailing pandemic so that learners can advance in their studies and achieve their goals in life. By HENT