1.   Beginning this summer (1999), the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) with the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) as the implementing arm, will hold a series of training workshops for different levels of administrators and for teachers at different centers.

2.   These are officially sponsored workshops and training sessions that DECS is paying for from its human resource development and training budget. For many of the workshops, Regional Directors will take care of the transportation and per diems of participants and the registration fee taken from the 5% of the regional budget allocated for training and development.

3.   Hence, we need to conserve our scarce training resources for these official workshops intended to improve the quality of the training of our teachers, especially subject specialists, so that the quality of teaching and delivery in our classrooms will be improved.

4.   Beginning this year, therefore, except for workshops to which we have committed DECS, we shall no longer pay for teachers wishing to attend workshops and training sessions and seminars that are not within our direct sponsorship. Teachers and administrators are free to attend such workshops but with no funding from DECS or the Regional Office.

5.   Hence, while this office will continue to endorse the efforts of different agencies to help in our massive faculty development effort, you will not be authorized to use “local funds” for these activities. We should conserve our resources for the DECS-sponsored official workshops that we shall be conducting.

6.   Please be guided accordingly.