By Ma. Teresa Montemayor / Philippine News Agency
The Department of Education (DepEd) on Thursday (Nov. 25) welcomed its recognition as the most trusted government office as shown by the latest 2021 Philippine Trust Index (PTI).
In a statement, it said the recognition was made possible by efforts of education front-liners who contributed to the basic education learning continuity plan.
“While we are faced with the daunting challenges of the pandemic on a daily basis, public trust is the quintessential backbone which we depend on to ensure that all our programs are truly relevant and impactful to the lives of every Filipino,” the DepEd said.
The DepEd ranked first and received a 91% trust rating from the public, the highest among other national government agencies.
Other most trusted agencies are the Pag-IBIG Fund (89%), Department of Social Welfare and Development (88%), and Government Service Insurance System and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas tied at 87%.
The PTI 2021, a biennial research by communications firm EON Group, seeks to measure the public’s trust level for multi-tiered organizations amid the prevailing pandemic.
Since the start of the pandemic, basic education faced several challenges such as the implementation of blended learning and return to face-to-face classes amid the health crisis.
2022 DepEd budget
Meanwhile, Education Secretary Leonor Briones thanked the Senate for approving the department’s 2022 budget amounting to P629.8 billion, 6% higher than its 2021 P595 billion budget.
“On behalf of the DepEd family, we thank and welcome our senators’ inputs for effectively allocating these funds that will surely build upon our capacity to provide the needs of our learners and teachers, especially that we are gradually reopening the schools,” Briones said in a news release.
The department has seen a significant budget increase in its big-ticket programs such as the computerization program (94.27%) and government assistance and subsidies (5.73%), which includes the senior high school voucher program. (PNA) – jlo
