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Use scarce resources for education in 2009

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By Gemma B. Bagayaua, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak | 01/08/2009 10:17 AM

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What’s in store for education in 2009?

Long time observers of the sector will tell you that it will probably be more of the same old problems.

Notwithstanding recent improvements in nationwide examination results, progress in improving the overall quality of instruction in the education system will remain slow, certainly not fast enough to catch up with the quality of education in other parts of the globe.

Resource constraints

Much of the sector’s problems are rooted in lack of resources compounded by a burgeoning population. While other governments in the world spend 5 percent to 6 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) for education, the Philippines spends less than 3 percent.

The sector’s budget for 2009, though slightly bigger than that in 2008, is certainly not big enough to close the huge resource gap.

Support from private businesses has increased significantly over the past years (P4 billion in 2007 from less than a billion in previous years), but the economic downturn could mean that this too cannot be relied on to meaningfully increase resources available for the sector.
Moreover, the economic downturn and rising education costs will likely force many parents to transfer their kids from private schools to public schools where classrooms are already bursting to the seams. This will put more pressure on already inadequate public educational facilities.

ICT in education

Controversy over projects funded through Chinese loans appears to have caused the administration to indefinitely shelve its Chinese funded cyber-education project.

But the education department remains bent on integrating ICT in education as a way to improve the quality of instruction particularly in far-flung areas.

With ODA funding gone, the department is trying to fund this project instead through its annual budget and through partnerships with the private sector.

The department proposed a sum of P2 billion to finance the acquisition of hardware and software as well as training of teachers for the first-year implementation of its five-year Information and Communications Technology for Education (ICT4E) strategic plan.

With the budget bill still pending in Congress, funding for this project still hangs in balance. Education Secretary Jesli Lapus expressed fears earlier that the amount, being a new item in the Deped budget, might be cut. 

Increasing participation

Getting children to enroll is perhaps one of the biggest challenges the education department will face this coming school year.

Last year, international bodies have cited dropping participation rates in the country with much concern. From school year 2002-03 to school year 2006-07, participation rate at the elementary level has been dropping consistently, endangering the Philippines’ chances of meeting its targets under the Millennium Development Goal and Education-for-All programs.

For school year 2007-2008, some 2.2 million children aged 6 to12 years old and 3.4 million 12-15 years old out-of-school youth or a total of 5.6 million are reported to be out of school. This is compounded by very high dropout rates—6 percent in elementary and 7.5 percent in the secondary level.

Poverty has been identified as the biggest factor that keeps children and youth from enrolling or regularly attending school. Many children are just too hungry to go to school.
To address the issue, the Arroyo administration is allocating more funds for school feeding programs and conditional cash transfers this year.  The big challenge is how to ensure proper targeting so that scarce resources will really reach the neediest.

The education department also lined up a package of programs that include Child Find, which will be initiated by the principal in collaboration with barangay councils who will conduct community assembly, family mapping, school-barangay posting and stakeholder assembly to identify children who are not in school.

Other intervention programs lined up by the education department to find and keep children in school are the adopt-a-child project, supplementary feeding, scholarship grants, community voucher and subsidy programs in partnership with parent-teacher community associations. 

Last December, the education department urged all incoming first year high school students for school year 2009-2010 to register in public or private schools of their choice this January, 2009. This initiative is supposed to help the department monitor the number of graduating Grade 6 pupils who will continue in high school and devise immediate measures to reduce the drop out rate in schools, especially between Grade 6 to first year high school.

Alternative systems

With 57 out of 100 students dropping out of school, education stakeholders are also realizing that the mainstream education system can no longer be relied on as the only education delivery mechanism.

Alternative delivery programs and alternative learning systems have to be explored as well to accommodate all kinds of learners, education experts say. Learning opportunities outside school should be made available to both in- and out-of-school youth learners who are interested to get an education.

Lapus disclosed that the department will absorb drop-out students under the Open High School program. Depending on the situation in a community, the Open High School operates by following various models to suit the needs of the students. One model offers a night shift to accommodate the students.  The school may also offer a scheme where students study through learning modules.

These past years, the administration has been actively pushing technical and vocational programs to help those out of school acquire marketable skills. More such programs are expected this year.

The education department has been administering annually the National Career Assessment Exam (NCAE) that measures not only a learner's academic ability, but also technical-vocational and entrepreneurial aptitude.

 

Through NCAE, students realize that college is not the only option after secondary school. "There is a need to change the prevailing mindset – especially in Filipino families – where college diplomas are touted as the sole way to success," said Lapus.

Facing budget realities

The proliferation of substandard state funded universities and colleges had been identified in various education studies as one of the factors hindering the development of basic education in the provinces.

For years, education experts have been recommending that government use scarce resources instead to improve education quality at the basic education level and focus state funding on select state colleges and universities with proven quality. But this has been to no avail as Congress has been repeatedly ignoring its self-imposed moratorium on the creation of new state colleges and universities.

But encouraging steps towards this direction took place last year when the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) forged an agreement with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for a moratorium on the establishment of new universities and colleges by local government units.

Also encouraging was the report that the Senate cut the 2009 budgets of 21 state colleges and universities in the provinces by P323 million while substantially increasing the subsidies for the University of the Philippines (UP), whose new charter declaring it as the country’s premier state university was approved last year.

But these, too, hang in balance as the annual budget remains pending in Congress. Already, House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora reportedly predicted a possible showdown on this issue between senators and congressmen at the bicameral level.

Zamora’s statement, quoted in the Philippine Star, sums up best the reason why this move may not push through after all. “How can you expect Congressman Tony (Antonio) Cerilles (of Zamboanga del Sur) to support the P19-million reduction for a school named apparently after one of his relatives?” Zamora reportedly asked, referring to J. H. Cerilles State College.

And given Congress’ previous record, it is likely that this sentiment will prevail over other well-meaning intentions.