For immediate release

June 8, 2008

 

Poor education spending blamed for back-to-school woes

 

Reference:
Dion Carlo Cerrafon, President
NEW Contact numbers:
09179616324
09235037264

 

 

While the Department of Education (DepEd) displays a "business-as-usual" attitude for the school opening, youth group Kabataang Pinoy said back-to-school problems this year will be worse than ever.

 

"DepEd claims that the government is prepared for the school opening but the dismal state of classrooms and facilities and the severe shortage of teachers in public elementary and high schools nationwide say otherwise," Kabataang Pinoy President Dion Carlo Cerrafon said.

 

Cerrafon also disproved DepEd's claim that it is addressing the classroom shortage in the country, saying that classrooms in the Philippines continue to be among the most crowded in Asia.

 

"While the government claims that it was able to lower the classroom-pupil ratio to 1:50 last year, class size in Philippine public elementary schools still pales in comparison to Malaysia (31.7), Thailand (22.9), Japan (28.6) and even in India (40)," he said.

 

He added that the disparity between the Philippines and other Asian countries in class size was even bigger in the high school level. In the same survey, the country registered an average high school class size of 56.1, higher than Malaysia's 34, Thailand's 41.5, Japan's 33.9 and India's 39.  

 

On the other hand, UNESCO data also show that pupil-teacher ratio for the primary level in the Philippines (35) far exceeds that of Thailand (18), Malaysia (17), Indonesia (20), Japan (19), and China (18).

 

Cerrafon said, DepEd own data reveal that in school year 2006-2007, there are still 267 baranggays and 4 municipalities that are not being served by a public elementary and high school, respectively.

 

He added that previous studies made by the education department also show the decrepit condition of public schools nationwide. Some 80 percent of them have no running water, 60 percent have no toilets, 40 percent have no ceilings and 50 percent have no electricity.

 

"The same problems continue to haunt the education sector year after year. The shortages in classrooms and chairs worsened with the transfer of students from private to public schools. Many middle-income families that can no longer afford the high tuition in private schools are transferring their children to public schools, which offer free tuition and books," he explained.

Cerrafon said government misprioritization and poor education spending, aggravated by rampant graft and corruption under the current administration, were to be blamed for worsening crisis in education.

 

He added that the Philippine government is spending only an average of 3 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product on public educational institutions. This pales in comparison to its neighboring countries Malaysia (7.4 percent) and Thailand (4 percent). It is also lower than the 4 percent average for all countries that were included in the World Education Indicators (WEI) in 2006.

 

The minimum prescribed standard for education spending set by UNESCO is 6 percent of a country's GDP.

 

Data from UNESCO and the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB) also show that the Philippines only spends 17.2 percent at all levels of education compared to 40 percent spent by Thailand and 28 percent spent by Malaysia.

 

Expenditure per student shows how measly the country spends on education compared to its neighbors. The country's expenditures per student for primary education, secondary education and tertiary education are 500, 505 and 1,718 PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) dollars, respectively. This is far lower compared to Malaysia which spends 1,830, 2,920 and 10,792 PPP dollars, and Thailand with 3,442, 2,484 and 4,474 PPP dollars

 

"The government has been formulating several education policies and programs with the aim of improving the quality of education in the country but it is missing the most important and decisive factor to meet this goal – spending more on education. Unfortunately, government spending on education has been the complete opposite in the past years."  

 

"Education is an avowed priority of the State, but under the present administration, like its predecessors, it does not draw an ounce of sympathy from the authorities," Cerrafon pointed out. #
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