MANILA - The Department of Education (DepEd) has doubled its budget for its mental health program and school-based feeding program, Education Secretary Sara Duterte announced on Wednesday.

In her speech at the launching of the two programs at the Esteban Abad Elementary School in Quezon City, she said that DepEd has improved its implementation to make it more "attuned to the learners' needs".

For the mental health program, DepEd has allocated P200 million for 2024.

"This will help make our schools psychologically safer, with plans to add mental health services to our Learners' TeleSafe Hotline and establish mental health teams in each region," Duterte said in her speech.

The school-based feeding program, on the other hand, is given P11.7 billion pesos for 2024-2025.

"I'm happy to announce that all components of the program, including hot meals, nutritious food products, and milk, are accessible to our learners," she said.

"I want to express my gratitude to all our partners, stakeholders, teachers, parents, and education champions for prioritizing our learners' well-being and protection," she added.

The education secretary hopes that through these programs, learners will be given "holistic" support from DepEd.

"Napakahalaga sa pag aaral ng isang learner, ng isang estudyante ang kanyang physical health at ng kanyang mental health... Dapat maintindihan ng lahat na kailangan natin suportahan ang ating mga kabataan, hindi lang sa academic, pero kasama rin ang sa kanilang mental health at sa kanilang nutritional," she said during the media interview after the event.

Duterte, however, admitted that these allocated budgets are still not enough for the projects of the department.

"Kulang pa. Malayo pa tayo sa ideal spending natin ng per student sa education and lagi naman iyon sinasabi ko na naiintindihan ng Department of Education na madali ring departamento ang nangangailangan ng budget kaya kailangan ispread iyong budget sa ibat ibang opisina at iba't ibang pangangailangan ng ating lipunan," Duterte said.

"Kaya kung ano iyong naapprove na budget sa amin, we make sure na maaximize namin ang paggamit noon sa ibat ibang proyekto at programa na may benepisyo sa ating learners at sa ating teaching and non teaching personnel ng ating DepEd," she added.

• DepEd drafts guidelines for reversion to June-March calendar
• Marcos orders DepEd to improve teaching quality after poor PISA ranking

RELATED VIDEO

Watch more News on iWantTFC