The performance of our science high schools have been at the highest level from the start. The schools however, are not run by DepEd. The Department of Science and Technology in reality runs the Philippine Science High School System nationwide and some local governments run their own science high schools.
Science high schools show our government can educate our young people well with the right resources and the right leadership. The problem we have with our non-performing public schools is that they are run by the humongous one-million-man DepEd that probably has more non-teaching bureaucrats than actual teachers working in the classrooms.
No private organization will tolerate such a large overhead that breeds inefficiency and horrible performance. There are six levels of management in DepEd from the Secretary of Education to the teacher.
By comparison, the private schools have only two levels, the principal reports directly to the president. Even the Catholic Church has only three levels, the pope, the bishop, and the parish priest. Thus, in the DepEd we have a lumbering bureaucratic behemoth, Dr. Vic Limlingan, a Harvard educated economist observed.
This is why I am not too optimistic about meaningful change happening in DepEd anytime soon. I like “Catch-up Friday” as an indication that VP/Sec Sara has at the very least started to recognize what her real problem is as Secretary of Education. But “Catch-up Friday” will not dramatically improve our international rating in PISA overnight.
VP/Sec Sara needs a Whole-of-Nation Approach that will ensure the active participation of all sectors of society in putting our educational system back on track. This is in line with President Marcos’ recent statement reiterating the importance of the whole-of-nation approach where everyone is a partner and fellow worker towards good governance.
Let us look at some specifics. For example, the lack of classrooms.
There is a classroom shortage of 159,000. DepEd is asking for P100 billion every year for the next eight years to build the classrooms. Otherwise, with the current school building budget, a DepEd Usec told our FEF group, the shortage would be cleared only by 2040.
But should DepEd be allowed to build all those classrooms by itself?
Even if we give DepEd the money, DepEd is not an infrastructure agency and has no capacity to ramp up a school building program. DPWH cannot keep up with the demand for building classrooms. Having to cover the cost of corruption, their subcontractors are forced to deliver substandard work.
It is better if private donors build those classrooms. Back in 2011, Sen. Franklin Drilon devoted part of his pork funds to build 1,400 classrooms through the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) program, which built classrooms at half the cost of classrooms built by DepEd through DPWH.
Recently, San Miguel, through Ramon Ang, pledged P500 million to build classrooms for the City of Manila in addition to SMC’s existing feeding centers. Maybe management of K-12 schools should be devolved to LGUs with proven capability and resources.
DepEd should use a whole-of-nation approach to address the classroom shortage by maximizing the use of all resources. DepEd should look at all available classrooms, including those in private schools.
Expanding the voucher system negates the need for massive classroom building. As a politician, VP/Sec Sara should realize that issuing vouchers makes her look good right away to parents of students. Building new classrooms means many disgruntled parents will see her as unresponsive because they have to wait eight years.
But didn’t the late PNoy already solve the classroom deficit problem?
Yes, he did, but our population grew fast too. DepEd must provide for half a million children every year. Even if PNoy built enough classrooms to address the backlog, the succeeding administration obviously failed to address continuing population growth demands.
PNoy tapped PPP (public-private partnership program). The PPP model built 20k classrooms in two years. Today, the classroom shortage is so bad that many schools are holding morning and afternoon sessions and are packing classes beyond the desired maximum of 40 students.
For immediate relief, it makes sense for VP/Sec Sara to expand the voucher system to harness the resources of private schools. There are empty classrooms in private schools after an increased number of students with financial difficulties shifted to public schools.
Constructing new classrooms, DepEd says, would take eight years to complete under ideal circumstances. Widely using vouchers to solve the immediate problem is a no-brainer.
A good example is Antipolo. Mayor Jun Ynares noted that the public schools in Antipolo City are overcrowded while the private schools were empty and there were unused vouchers. The mayor offered full scholarships for students to return to the private schools. The full scholarship would be funded roughly one third from the school vouchers, one third in scholarship grants from the City of Antipolo, and one third in scholarship grants from the private school.
Same thing in Pasig. Mayor Vico Sotto and Vice Mayor Dodot Jaworski granted school vouchers to those qualified applicants to Pamantasan ng Pasig who could not be accommodated so they can study at the private schools in Pasig instead.
The voucher approach involves no capital expenditures, provides better choices and better learning outcomes for the students, and assists the financially distressed private schools.
A voucher bonus: students in private schools have greatly outperformed students in public schools in international tests such as the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) and TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study). Filipino private school students performed competitively with other countries in mathematics, but the Philippine score was brought down by the dismal performance of public schools.
Availability of land is a big problem too. Current locations are too small to accommodate new buildings. New locations are difficult to get because population growth has caused crowding in cities and towns.
And DepEd also lacks teachers, specially in the far-flung upland/coastal communities. While DepEd may be given construction funds, without teachers, why build?
DepEd’s current failed strategy has to go. VP/Sec Sara must use the voucher as a quick, cost-effective available solution. She should choose to involve the private sector in a whole-of-nation approach.
Boo Chanco’s email address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on X or Twitter @boochanco