With the Commission on Audit flagging the Department of Education on its purchase of pricey but outdated entry level laptops, the DepEd puts the blame on the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management, the same office that procured defective and costly PPEs and testing kits at the height of the pandemic.
The Commission on Education has flagged the Department of Education for purchasing pricey and outdated entry-level laptops last year worth P2.4 billion that were intended for teachers. The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives are pushing for an investigation on this issue.
Led by Rep. France Castro (ACT Teachers party-list), the three-member group filed Monday House Resolution 189 directing the chamber's committee on good governance to probe, in aid of legislation, the procurement of expensive but outdated laptops by the Department of Education.
“Especially amid the pandemic, economic crisis and ailing educational situation, the government should ensure that the access of teachers and students to quality programs and services,” the resolution read.
The CoA said the estimated cost of each laptop increased to P58,300 from P35,046.50, which was the original request of the DepEd. The final price was anchored on the recommendation of the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (PS-DBM again, remember those overpriced PPEs and testing kits) and accepted by the DepEd.
The laptops were also said to have “outdated” Intel Celeron processors and were apparently “too slow” for online learning.
“Not only did the government waste the people’s money for purchasing expensive yet outdated laptops, but also deprived thousands of teachers of gadgets that could have helped them implement distance learning,” the resolution of the Makabayan bloc read.
PS-DBM Director Dennis Santiago said he will order a “thorough examination” of the cost and the technical specifications of the laptop. The DepEd earlier said that PS-DBM should be the one to answer questions on the issue.
The DepEd said that it is “taking steps” to address the recommendations of the COA as it insisted that PS-DBM should be the one to answer the questions on the issue.
State auditors called out DepEd’s central office for its purchase of 39,583 laptops for public school teachers, through the PS-DBM, amounting to P2.4 billion, saying these were “pricey” for an entry-level laptop.
“The huge difference of P23,253.50 per unit price resulted in significant decrease by 28,917 laptop computers, purportedly for distribution to intended recipient-teachers which could have helped them in performing their tasks in the blended learning set-up. Consequently, an estimated 28,917 teachers were deprived of the possible benefits from the supposed provision of these laptops,” COA said.
Tags: #DepEd, #COA, #priceybutobsolete, #DBM, #entrylevellaptops