More years in the grades could be the answer

The disclosure from CHED that it has decided to add one more year to a number of college programs has earned that agency a lot of fireballs from critics. But that education body should also be praised for stirring up national awareness towards the problems of Philippine education, problems not just in the tertiary level but also in other levels.

In the SONAs of presidents, past and present, education has always been marked as one of government's priorities. Local officials too never forget the need to beef up the school machinery in their domains whenever they perorate on the subject. But all these are salivas wasted in the winds. And all one needs to do is look at the budgetary outlays of education in the national level to know the truth.

How much is education getting from the national coffer in the 2009 budget? It's only 167.9 billion pesos. Legislators say it's the biggest share among government agencies. Sure it is, but they forget to say that the triad of education bodies - DepEd, TESDA and CHED - are also the biggest employers. DepEd, for one has almost 500,000 teachers and nonteaching personnel. Add to this the cost of maintaining more than 200,000 elementary and high schools and you get a picture of the huge amount of funds needed.

Actually, the current allotment is only 12% of the total budget and approximately 2.5% of our GDP. Compared to other Asian countries we are the "kuripot" spender when it comes to the schooling of our youth. We beat only Cambodia in this respect while all our other neighbors are shelling out more money than we do for education. The reason is not that they have more money. Indonesia and Laos are not richer than we. Yet they set aside more of their resources for their children's training. Why? Perhaps, they have a deeper insight on the role of education in national development. Or perhaps their system of government is less politicalized.

 Of insights Filipino leaders have plenty. Considering the level of academic exposure they have it's difficult to believe they have not seen the importance of education as a tool for nation-building. But most likely such insight must have been blurred by the exigency of politics. As the Good Book says many people have eyes but cannot see, or ears but cannot hear.

The problems of Philippine education are many. They are serious and call for serious corrective actions. But the many generations of leaders since Independence have refused to bite the bullet preferring to do piece meal patch work here and there. As a result, the problems have accumulated and today we have a school system that is among the most miserable in Asia. In assessment after assessments how did we fare? You know it. Our leaders know it. But has our shame aroused us into action? For one, action is needed to lengthen the stay of Filipino children in school especially in the basic levels - elementary and secondary. Our basic education spans only 10 years while that of all our Asian neighbors, including Bangladesh, covers 12 years. Urgently, there's a need to add a year or two to our kids' schooling, more so in the elementary or pre-elementary level.

Actually, there's already a law enacted decades ago mandating the addition of a seventh grade in the elementary curriculum. But the series of Congresses has not set aside the funds for this (estimated at between 10 to 15 billion yearly). There's also a need to institutionalize the pre-elementary curriculum in public schools to give a chance to children of low income families to attend kindergarten classes. As of now only boys and girls from high income families are able to go to private pre-school classes because tuition is generally high. This places poor kids at a disadvantage because minus early schooling they usually fall behind in academic performance.

With two more years of exposure to basic education there may not be a need to raise the years of college study. CHED's latest initiative toward this end must have been driven by its awareness of poorly equipped students seeking college training. Without adequate grasp of the fundamentals in English, Science and Mathematics tertiary studies become extremely difficult. Professional preparation is adversely affected, which explains why Board exams mortality has been unusually high.

Of course, merely lengthening children's stay in the lower grades is not enough. The basic needs of effective instruction through provision of effective teachers, good and sufficient number of books and study instruments should be met. More years in school and better equipped schools could be the menu for improved Philippine education.

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