LAOAG CITY — The provincial government of Ilocos Norte has allocated funds for the monthly electricity bills of public primary schools in the province.
Under the “Kuryente Mo, Sagot Ko” program, the provincial government’s Special Education Fund will cover the payment of electricity bills of more than 300 primary schools in the province’s 21 towns and two cities.
Matilde Neri, head of the Provincial Education Office, said Thursday that from June this year, the students’ parents were no longer contributing for the payment of the schools’ electricity bills.
Launched in 2012, the “Kuryente Mo, Sagot Ko” program has been paying for the schools’ utility bills, even during school vacations when teachers are still obliged to work.
But it is only now that the electricity bills of the schools, which were pre-identified by the Department of Education (DepEd), are already 100 percent covered, Neri said.
Viewed at promoting education for all, the local finance committee, the Provincial Planning and Development Office, the provincial education office, DepEd’s Ilocos Norte Division, and the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative have all agreed to sustain the program.
Initially, the Ilocos Norte government, through its provincial board, allocated at least PHP5 million to cover the electricity bills of public schools in the province.
Public elementary schools in the province have been paying PHP8 million to PHP11 million for electricity annually. (Leilanie Adriano/PNA)
