Bidders seek P494M DepEd contract to supply science, math equipment

Prospective bidders vie on Monday for a P494.35 million contract to supply science and mathematics equipment to 442 public secondary schools, according to bid bulletins of the Department of Education (DepEd). The deadline for the submission of the bids comes a little over a week after the DepEd disclosed that it has added 100 new special science elementary schools this year and brought to 200 the total number of elementary schools offering a science-focused curriculum. For the contract up for bids, target recipient schools are in all the country’s 17 regions, with 117 high schools in Regions 6, 7 and 8 in the Visayas poised to get a P119.84 million chunk or 24 percent of the total project. Latest available figures on the DepEd website show that the country has 5,677 public high schools. The 442 recipient schools are 7.78 percent of the total. The supply contract is for equipments for the subjects Integrated Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics 1 – 4. Bidders will gather at the Mabini building of the DepEd complex in Pasig City. Science teachers will be trained on the use of the equipment. For the previous batch of equipments, which cost P330 million and will be deployed to 435 schools, the DepEd will gather the teachers in Cebu City for their equipment use training. “The training is very important for the science teachers to master the use and application of the new science equipment as well as the maintenance procedures to ensure long-term use of these equipment," DepEd Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro said in a statement last week. According to DepEd data, the achievement rate of second year level students in school year 2009-2010 was at 43.80 percent for Science and 39.64 percent for Math. — ELR, GMA News