Education as catalyst

Washington SyCip, an icon in the business and management world, said it all in a recent talk. Any nation that wants to grow and lick underdevelopment has to start with education, he said. Michael Milken, who pioneered the junk bond in the 80s at Wall Street and ushered in the age of hostile takeovers, is now a penitent after prison. His new mantra and new preoccupation: education. Bill Clinton wants to be remembered as the "Education President," not the human being who lusted over the thong underwear of Monica Lewinsky.

There is a feeling -- and many in the national leadership share this -- that if a one-time, hefty addition to the education budget is made by Congress, the international lenders will foot the bill, and probably even underwrite that big investment through a soft loan. That is how enthusiastic the multilateral lenders are towards educational investments.

Recently, the World Bank, one of the two multilaterals that helped fund the flagship Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP), said that the Philippine public school system is one of the best in the Asian region. The other funder of TEEP is the Japan-based Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF).

The Philippine experience with foreign-funded education projects has gotten the attention of multilateral funding institutions. The TEEP, for example, is a showcase of how to run good projects. The components of the P16- billion cover building of over 9,000 new school rooms, supply of textbooks and instructional materials, and training and retraining of teachers. The TEEP means a "total approach" towards solving the problems of basic education, as cited by DECS Undersecretary Dindo Manhit.

The most striking component of TEEP is "ground-up" decision-making process. For instance, innovations to the curriculum, the injection of indigenous content, the novel methods introduced by teachers, and several other new concepts and methods are decided at the level of the classrooms. Each of the school divisions in the 22 provinces covered by TEEP has the mandate to prepare its own development plans based on real need. Observers from the OECF have praised this emphasis on the "ground-up" approach to the decision-making process.

This year, the TEEP shall be complemented by a new program, this time designed as a dramatic intervention to secondary education. This is the P7-billion Secondary Education Improvement Project (SEDIP). Again, foreign lenders will help bankroll the project, which will also build schools, supply books, and uplift public secondary education in the poorest-of-the-poor provinces in the country.

I just got a reaction from a spokesman of PLDT president Manuel V. Pangilinan, regarding the complaint of Jun Mangosing, about the PLDT's front-end services. According to the PLDT spokesman, the problem is being continuously addressed. PLDT, though, is requesting subscribers to provide the needed documentation that can allow it to facilitate the processing of complaints. "We would like to assure one and all that the new PLDT management is committed to provide subscribers a fast and efficient service," the PLDT added.

Rep. Antonio "Tony" P. Roman, who recently underwent a successful heart bypass under the expert hands of Dr. Jorge Ramos, is one solon who supports the government's move to allow actor Robin Padilla to participate in the peace process in Mindanao. The Bataan legislator feels that Padilla has the confidence of the Abu Sayyaf, something that the other members of the negotiating panel apparently do not enjoy. "Of all the factors that should enhance the success of the peace effort, confidence ranks first, along with knowledge of the political, economic, religious, cultural and historical aspects of this conflict," Roman said. "There is no reason to diminish Mr. Padilla's possible contribution to the national interest, just because he is a movie star," Tony added.

Several days ago, I cited a portion of the Foreword of the book, Choices in Healing, an excellent book authored by Michael Lerner, that is a "must" reading for those coping with cancer. Let me now add other portions of the Foreword, to explain what this book is all about:

The book provides a map of a certain territory, some of which is now coming to be called mind/body, or integrative, or complementary medicine. As with any map, people can do with this one what they like, including ignore it or criticize it, or use it -- as maps are more commonly used -- to chart an itinerary that visits some places but not others. In this world, the territory is constantly changing as we learn more about cancer and effective treatments for it, and as we learn more about the mind/body connection.

This book provides a framework for the reader to contemplate, perhaps for the first time, that your own mind and body might shelter deep inner resources for healing and for coping. You might be interested to learn that how you approach your illness might make a big difference in your quality of life and in your relationships, and that even the course of the disease itself and its response to treatment might potentially be affected. Strong recent evidence suggests the possibility that sharing feelings in a group and practicing stress reduction exercises as a complement to more traditional treatments might extend periods of remission and positively influence survival.

The informed pursuit of treatment options, including disciplines such as meditation and yoga which may help us as human beings to mobilize the full range of our resources for healing, can also influence how we encounter our own mortality. Perhaps inner peace, freedom and meaning, even health lie embedded within the very pain, fear, and uncertainty we frequently experience as we face illness and engage with it as full participants along the road we call life.

I believe that the more options we have in dealing with distress and crisis, the healthier we will be psychologically, and the more we will feel like an important -- if not crucial -- participant in what is happening in our lives, with at least some degree of influence and control. Michael's simile of the cancer patient in the role of policymaker rather than cancer researcher is entirely accurate. It explains why the message of the entire book is aimed just where it ought to be -- namely, at making realistic, hopeful, and uniquely personal choices under time pressure and on the basis of incomplete evidence and partial understanding of an extremely complex disease, where nobody has the last word or magic bullet, and many approaches can be complementary to one another.

Art A. Borjal's e-mail address: <[email protected]>