Elementary schools in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) may soon enjoy the benefits of directly receiving funds for their operating expenses.

Elementary schools in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) may soon enjoy the benefits of directly receiving funds for their operating expenses.

During the Education Summit for ARMM mayors on May 5, 2011, ARMM DepEd Secretary Baratucal L. Caudang said the he was considering directly “downloading” the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) of elementary schools to the school administrators.

In one of the workshops with ARMM mayors where they discussed ways to help ARMM students, Caudang said his office was looking at a scheme to directly send the money to elementary schools to improve school management programs faster.

“We are open to that (measure) because we are already doing that now with the high schools,” Caudang said.

Mayors who were part of the workshop pointed out that elementary school administrators have a harder time responding to the needs of their students because their MOOE has to go through the district superintendent before these are given to the schools.

The ARMM mayors, DepEd officials and representatives from the office of the governor attended the ARMM Education Summit at the Ateneo Professional Schools in Makati City organized by Synergeia Foundation under the USAID’s Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (EQuALLS2) Project, a joint undertaking between the Philippine and the American government.