Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Assistant Secretary Romel Lopez said it is not possible to distribute educational assistance through teachers or the Department of Education (DepEd) despite the fact that they have a list of their enrollees.
Despite the fact that they have thought about the move, Lopez said it is not really doable because of the amount that will be distributed to a large number of students.
“ You can just imagine, we’re talking about 1.5 billion pesos here. Our first concern, therefore, is the security of our teachers, the security of our schools, “ he explained.
Lopez gave an example that if the teacher has P250,000.00, but what if it is not used up, the money is not dispersed, where will he put it after?.
“And let’s be honest, the teachers are still teaching, they are still working on a lesson plan, so do we want to give them extra work? Even Sec. Erwin Tulfo said he wants to keep the teachers away from our payout,” he pointed out.
“Can we just imagine the additional burden that we will give to the teachers so we have avoided it, that is also what Sec. Erwin wants. Let’s not burden our teachers with an additional workload that will make things more difficult for them,” he added.
Meanwhile, regarding the newly laid out policy on the distribution of educational aid by the DSWD, Lopez said that the cash aid distribution system has greatly improved, when in fact with the help of the DILG, LGU, PNP, those who received it last Saturday already hit 79,747 students.