How will the US$200-million World Bank education loan be spent?

On April 18, 1991, I wrote a column entitled "Can EDCOM ’90-’91 Recharge the Nation’s Powerhouse?" I quote: "The major powerhouse of our nation is the people. Ironically, however, the majority are immobilized by illiteracy. Children today usually do not get past Grade I, whereas in the ’50s and ’60s, the average Filipino child reached Grade III and usually dropped out by fourth grade."

The five historical surveys ofPhilippine schools 1969-1983

How often have we evaluated the Philippine school system?

In 1969, the Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine Education was supported by the Ford Foundation. The 1973 Ranis Report, by the International Labor Organization (ILO), was financed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The EDPITAF or Educational Projects Implementing Task Force made the 1975 Survey of Elementary Education extending a 1974 World Bank Staff Appraisal Report on Elementary Schools. Another was done in 1981.

The PRODED or Program Decentralized for Educational Development sought the equitable distribution of resources and services to inaccessible mountain areas from 1983 to 1989 implementing the New Elementary School Curriculum (NESC). This was picked up in the Secondary Educational Development Program for High Schools.

The 1990 EDCOM survey alongside the launching of EFA and CRC

Year 1990 simultaneously saw the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), with the UNESCO global literacy program Education For All (EFA) and the EDCOM survey of all Philippine schools.

The Convention is a valuable treaty protecting the rights of man in his formative years from birth to 18 years old. It has a total of 54 Articles, with Articles 1-42 focusing on the "development of social and EDUCATIONAL rights of children from birth to 18 years old besides their survival, protection and part in rights (including special measures during times of conflict)." The exercise of the right to education is instrumental for the enjoyment of many other human rights, such as the right to work, to health, as well as to political participation. Education is the primary vehicle by which poor children and adults can free themselves out of poverty.

The Education For All (EFA) program launched in Jomtien, Thailand was reviewed ten years after in 2000. Using the evaluation done in Dakar, Africa, it was observed that enrolment in the developing countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia increased but failed to meet quality education.

Though much time, money and energy have been spent on Philippine education, the results are far from satisfactory. In August 1990, then President Corazon Aquino signed a Joint Congressional Resolution designating EDCOM to survey all schools in the country. The question then was: Is the 1986 Constitution fulfilling its provision that the "State give priority to education (Filipinos) for human development… assigning this the highest budgetary priority…"?

Bacolod’s Visayan Daily Star frontpage article, "Negros Students’ Rating Lower", was a major observation of the conference regarding the survival rate and mastery level of elementary school students in Negros Occidental, which was below the national and regional level. According to the 1989-92 NEDA Medium-Term Plan, "in spite of Region VI having the second highest number of educational institutions, only 62.54 percent of all students completed elementary education. Cadiz registered 37.25 percent, and San Carlos, 38.43 percent. Western Visayas registered the third highest student drop-out rate. This was also reflected on the secondary level."

Have we streamlined our school budget system?

Then Governor Bitay Lacson recalled how typhoons Osang, Onday and Ising tore down 90 percent of their schoolhouses in 1991. He stressed that P200 million was needed by Western Visayas, but only P6 million was given by Manila.

How can we maintain the education standards when schools lack chairs? Five million chairs were bidded in Iloilo in 2001, but the COA did not allow this ‘local’ decision. Thus, a two-year backlog of chairs exists. He declined to discuss other needs for additional schoolrooms and teachers. The disaster is obvious. He could only conclude that the one who shouts the loudest and is closest to power gets the chairs.

Then Paglaum State College President Pedro Raña of Talisay, Negros Occidental cited how COA rules on budget should be simplified to suit school heads, especially those from provinces. "I have to go to Manila to follow up requests. The rules are never fixed. The Department of Budget would ask for more documents. I am forced to go to the CBCP, Central Records office in Malacañang. But this is far from Solano. Can’t these educational offices be clustered together in the same area so as not to waste our time and effort?"

(Today, a one-stop processing center at the POEA office for OFWs, seafarers and other professionals involves DOLE, CHED and Malacañang officers facilitating the certification, authentication and verification of documents.)

Senator Edgardo Angara, then EDCOM Chairman, said he perceived the need for a general overhauling of the political, cultural and education setup of the country. He expressed hope that the local Government Autonomy Bill which was due to be implemented then, would allow Local School boards to plan according to local needs. This bill has been approved, but has the devolvement of local funds to schools working out?

The World Bank loan is the major source of basic education budget between 2006 and 2010

The World Bank’s (WB) Board of Executive Directors recently approved a US$200 million loan — over a period of five years (2006-2011) with a repayment period of 20 years — to help address the declining quality and accessibility of elementary and secondary education in the Philippines. The loan will assist DepEd in the implementation of its Basic Education Sector Reform Agenda (BESRA). Specifically, the assistance will go to the Government’s National Program Support for Basic Education (NPSBE) Project which will improve quality and equity in learning outcomes in basic education.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said that the loan is consistent with the overall agreement of the Government with the World Bank. He said, "This type of assistance is very timely and appropriate since it will finance expenditures critical for delivering education services that will guarantee the delivery of such services. This support will focus on fiscal reforms in the short term and will also help the Department of Education be more effective, in the longer term."

Joachim von Amsberg, World Bank Philippines Country Director, emphasized the connection between the fiscal reforms with the reforms in the delivery of basic social services, such as education. "…The World Bank is pleased to support the Philippines through low-cost financing, specifically for policy reforms and for improvements in the quality and governance of public spending in education. Such improvements are essential for service delivery and for public trust. The World Bank’s strategy for the Philippines is designed to support those strategic priorities in the national budget that achieve fiscal stability and improved governance."

Four components to be financed by WB loan

Efforts to upgrade the quality of education suffer from lack of funds, thus the World Bank loan of $200 million should be used wisely and with transparency, as well as accountability. The project will finance priority items from four components identified in the Basic Education Reform Agenda:

STRENGTHENED SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT ($71 million) is designed to support the development and implementation of school-based management, legislated in the Governance of Basic Education Act of 2001, and which forms a central pillar in DepEd’s emphasis on decentralization and meaningful community participation.

This component will develop and implement a system of School Improvement Plans (SIPs), with associated Annual Improvement Plans (AIPs); increase Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE); training of school or school cluster heads to implement school-based management (SBM) as well as training for school and division staff in financial accountability and maintenance and use of databases; and increase accountability by requiring schools to report to their communities (e.g., via a School Report Card).

IMPROVED TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS ($23 million) focuses on improving teaching effectiveness by refining and using competency-based standards for teachers and helping achieve a more equitable distribution of teachers across schools. The project will finance a hardship allowance for basic education teachers placed in hard-to-staff schools, as an incentive to encourage staff mobility in hardship posts. The project will also support transfer costs for teachers required to move.

ENHANCED QUALITY AND EQUITY THROUGH STANDARDS, ASSESSMENT AND SUPPORT ($96 million) is meant to address the growing disparities in both inputs and outcomes of basic education by monitoring provision and outcomes and tailoring support to particular needs of communities to ensure that standards are met.

This component will develop nationwide standards for key learning areas based on the Revised Basic Education Curriculum (RBEC) and set minimum standards for educational inputs; develop and implement national strategies to support learning in English and Filipino language, Mathematics and Science; enhance the operations of 17 regions and 188 divisions in supervising and supporting the schools to implement their school improvement plans; and develop a comprehensive Information Communications Technology (ICT) framework. This component will also provide complementary funds for the school building program to help schools meet minimum standards.

EFFECTIVE RESOURCE MOBILIZATION ($2 million) seeks to improve budget planning and management and resource mobilization by restructuring the DepEd budget, focusing on major reform programs that will ensure effective delivery of education.

After 16 years — time to evaluate EDCOM

While DepEd is still completing the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) with regards to the WB loan, the basis of the educated reforms must be the evaluation of the EDCOM findings on the major weaknesses of Basic Education such as the following: (1) Has the 40 percent Grade I drop-out decreased?; (2) Has an alternative teacher-training program and its corresponding curriculum replaced the outdated programs?; (3) Has principalship been restored to monitor teacher competence; (4) What means were resorted to for regular evaluation and monitoring?

Year 2000 was the due date to have the EDCOM reforms re-evaluated. But, this was not done. If, like EFA projects, it was evaluated after 10 years in Dakar, Africa, our school system would have been equally focused on "quality" like the EFA Framework of Action on quality education.

Therefore, EDCOM II is urgent.

(For more information or reaction, please e-mail at exec@obmontessori.edu.ph or pssoliven@yahoo.com)