This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 25, July 31-August 6, 2005
Worst Education Crisis under
Arroyo The Department of
Education's (DepEd) share in the national budget contracted to 11.30 percent
from last year's 13.62 percent. But in real terms, the education budget is only
P54.39 billion once adjusted with the current value of the peso and the
inflation rate, a study from Bayan Muna (people first) party list revealed. The textbook Asya:
Noon, Ngayon, at Hinaharap
(Asia: Past, Present, and Future) published by
Vidal Publishing House has been in circulation for 13 years and is being used in
both private and public secondary schools. But not until recently that an
academician discovered that book has 431 factual and grammatical errors in its
316 pages. High school students in the
Philippines ranked 41st out of 45 countries in math proficiency and 42nd out of
45 countries in science. Filipino grade-schoolers on the other hand ranked 23rd
out of 25 countries in math and science proficiency. © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Arroyo's
disappointing education and economic policies have resulted in two images of the
Philippines. One is the Philippines whose talented and skilled people have
already left the land to seek better lives. The other is the Philippines whose
people are anxious to take off, after realizing that the future is dim under
this kind of government.
By Carl Marc Ramota
Bulatlat
In her July 25 State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
bragged of a country "on the verge of take off." Her storyline included
increased government spending on education for "better trained teachers in more
classrooms;" 30,000 additional classrooms and computer access to more than 3,000
high schools in the past four years; and a "healthy start" breakfast program for
young schoolchildren.
Records from the government's own education agencies tell us otherwise, however.
Arroyo's SONA stories are not only a farce; the president herself is a poor
storyteller.
Worst crisis ever
Contrary to the president's claims, Raymond Palatino, spokesman of Youth
Demanding Arroyo's Removal (Youth DARE) and vice president of Anak ng Bayan
(nation’s youth) Youth Party, said the education sector experienced the worst
crisis in the last four years under Arroyo.
While enrolment figures in elementary and secondary schools are increasing
significantly, the education sector continues to suffer from yearly budget cuts.
This year, the education budget is only P102.62 billion, lower by almost P5
billion from last year's figures.
This is reflected in the dismal state of classrooms and facilities and the
severe shortage of teachers in public elementary and high schools nationwide.
Data from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) reveal that this school year,
classroom shortage is pegged at 57,930; teachers, 49,699; and desks and chairs,
3.48 million. Until now, 445 barangays (villages) in the country still have no
elementary schools. Six municipalities still have no high school.
He said the "increased resources" for education did not prevent the distribution
of error-filled textbooks in public schools.
Another erroneous book, Science and Technology for the Modern World 1 and 2
of Diwa Scholastic Press even reached its third edition. Furthermore,
Kasaysayan ng Daigdig (World History) published by DepEd's leading textbook
supplier Vibal Publishing incurred 363 errors.
These books are already shelved in the erroneous section of the Education
department, but surprisingly, these are still being used by high school
students.
Science and math competencies of Filipino students during Arroyo's term are also
one of the worst in the world.
Results of the national achievement test conducted for the school year 2004-2005
showed that fourth-year high school students garnered an average score of 46.80
percent while grade six pupils scored an average of 58.73 percent.
Palatino said this can attributed significantly to the government's poor
education spending.
The Arroyo government is among the lowest in Asia in terms of education
spending, with the country's education budget amounting only to two percent of
the gross domestic product (GDP). It did not even reach half of the prescribed
minimum standard for education spending set by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which is six percent of a
country's GDP.
The country's average even falls short of the average 3.3 percent education
spending in Asia.
Still an elusive dream
Palatino added that college education remains an elusive dream for most Filipino
youth, as yearly budget cuts in state schools and unabated hikes in tuition and
other fees in private schools continue to plague tertiary education.
This year's average tuition hike is higher compared to last year. The Commission
on Higher Education's (CHEd) partial report last May revealed that 276 or 20.49
percent of the total 1,347 PHEIs applied for tuition hike. Now, the national
average tuition per unit is P353.03 per unit while tuition rate in the National
Capital Region is already pegged P722.41 per unit or P15,170.61 for a full
21-unit load.
As a result, Palatino said, students can no longer afford to study in expensive
private tertiary schools and are instead planning to transfer to public schools
or may just stop studying.
"State schools which are considered the last resort for poor students
to enter college are now plagued by similar problems confronting private
schools. Not only are they few now and their enrolment quotas limited, they are
also haunted by increases in tuition and other fees thus forcing many state
scholars to leave," he explained.
Three of the premier state universities in the country experienced huge budget
cutbacks this year. The University of the Philippines (UP) has a budget slash of
P356.99 million; Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), P35.07
million; and Philippine Normal University (PNU), P10.65 million. In fact, a
state scholar in the PUP only receives a subsidy of P43 a day while a cadet in
the Philippine Military Academy gets P8,000.
Recently, the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines reported a measly 22
percent overall student survival from first to fourth year college. In June
2004, a business think tank revealed that the dropout rate in college is at a
staggering all-time high of 73 percent.
The report also said most students don't even reach college. Only seven out 100
students who enter Grade 1 will be able to reach college.
Pre-need code not enough
Arroyo also cited the need to rehabilitate pre-need education companies to
guarantee the education of more students, but Palatino said a pre-need code
alone will not resolve the crisis in education, particularly in the tertiary
level.
"We agree that there is a need for a pre-need code to regulate the pre-need
industry. But it does not address the clamor of the public to stop the rising
cost of schooling and the deteriorating quality of higher education. The major
hindrance in acquiring college education which the president refers to as the
‘great Filipino dream’ is the uncontrollable tuition increases. And sadly, the
Arroyo government has done little to resolve this problem," Palatino said.
He predicted that more pre-need firms are doomed to close this year unless the
government starts to arrest the incessant tuition hikes in tertiary schools by
scrapping the Education Act of 1982.
The deregulation of college tuition through the enactment of the Education Act
in 1982 opened the doors for a sharp rise in tuition, making higher education
more elusive if not impossible to many students for the last two decades.
Labor export policy
Meanwhile, Palatino said Arroyo's thrust to improve vocational training and
encouragement for schools to produce skilled graduates is an endorsement for the
labor-export policy of the government. "Young graduates eager to work are
disappointed to learn that jobs matching their skills are available only in
other countries," he added.
He said Arroyo's disappointing education and economic policies have resulted in
two images of Philippines. "One is the Philippines whose talented and skilled
people have already left the land to seek better lives. The other is the
Philippines whose people are anxious to take off, after realizing that the
future is dim under this kind of government," he said. Bulatlat