Senator Loren Legarda today said that the continuous improvement of the country's education system will be among her priorities in her third term in the Senate, stressing support to the Department of Education's goal of addressing the backlog of classrooms.
Based on DepEd's records, the country still has a backlog of 50,921 classrooms in 2012.
“Karapatan ng bawat batang Pilipino ang makapag-aral, at makapag-aral sa isang kapaligirang angkop sa kanya. Sisikapin nating solusyunan ang kakulangan sa klasrum ng sa gayon wala ng Pilipino ang kailangang problemahin kung saan siya papasok at mag-aaral,” the re-elected senator said.
“President Aquino has already signed the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013, which would upgrade the quality of our education system through a 12-year basic education program. In line with this, we must also aim to address problems related to physical infrastructure such as classrooms,” said Legarda, co-author of Republic Act 10533, the Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013.
From 2010-2012, Legarda allocated a total of 146 million pesos for 291 classrooms and school buildings in various parts of the country.
Legarda, who will be serving her third term, also vowed to push for the passage of the ‘Pantawid Tuition Program’, a bill that would fund one college graduate in every poor Filipino family.
"Ang aking hangarin, ang aking gagawin, at ang aking sisikapin sa aking susunod na termino ay magkaroon ng kahit isang diploma ang bawat pamilyang Pilipino, lalo na yung nasa ilalim ng 4Ps, para ang bawat mahirap na pamilya ay siguradong magkakaroon ng isang college graduate," she said.
