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Education suffered worst crisis under Arroyo |
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 by YOUTH DARE
Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo must still be living in her self-induced fairy
tale. Until now, she refuses to realize that she is the root of all these
political uncertainties and divisiveness.
This was the statement made by Youth Demanding Arroyo’s Removal (YOUTH DARE)
Spokesperson Raymond Palatino in reaction to Arroyo’s State-of-the-Nation
address (SONA) yesterday.
“We agree with Mrs. Arroyo: Ours is a country divided. One is a nation who is
sick and tired of immorality, plunder, cheating and corruption in governance and
is now ready for another people’s uprising. The other is Arroyo’s crumbling
ruling clique which still continue to cling to power,” Palatino said.
He said Arroyo’s SONA stories are not only illusory, the president herself is a
poor storyteller. “Even a Grade 1 student would not believe Arroyo’s stories.”
Education Crisis
Palatino, who is also the vice president of Anak ng Bayan Youth Party, refuted
Arroyo’s education stories. He said the education sector experienced the worst
in the last four years under Arroyo. “Arroyo’s stories are far from reality. In
fact, it is the exact opposite.”
He said even the data from the government’s own education agencies will tell the
public otherwise.
This year, the education budget is only P102.62 B, lower by almost P5 B compared
to last year’s figures. This is reflected in the dismal state of classrooms and
facilities and the severe shortage of teachers in public elementary and high
schools nationwide. Data from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers reveal that
this school year, classroom shortage is pegged at 57,930; teachers, 49,699; and
desks and chairs, 3.48 million.
Until now, 445 baranggays in the country still have no elementary schools. There
are still six towns/municipalities that have no high school.
In fact, Palatino said the government’s education spending is only equivalent to
two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). It even did not reach half of
the prescribed minimum standard for education spending set by the United Nations
Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) which is 6 percent of
a country’s GDP.
He added that college education remains an elusive dream for most Filipino
youth. With the Arroyo government’s education policies, which have resulted in
yearly cuts in the budget for state schools and unabated hikes in tuition and
other fees in private schools, still in place, they may just have to give up
their dream of earning a college diploma,” Palatino said.
The Commission on Higher Education’s partial report last May revealed that 276
or 20.49 percent of the total 1,347 PHEIs applied for tuition hike.
Although the number of schools applying for tuition increase may have been
smaller, this year's average tuition hike is just the same higher compared to
last year.
In the commission’s partial report, the national average tuition hike is pegged
at 11.52 percent from 11.37 percent increase in 2004. Now, the national average
tuition per unit is P353.03 per unit, an increase of P36.43 from last year's
rate.
In the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila), tuition went up by 11.33
percent, higher than last year’s 10.83 percent hike. At present, tuition rate in
the NCR is P722.41 per unit or P15,170.61 for a full 21-unit load.
As a result, Palatino said, students who can no longer afford to study in
expensive private tertiary schools and are planning to transfer to public higher
education institutions may just have to stop studying.
“State schools which are considered the last resort for poor students to enter
college are now plagued by similar problems confronting private schools. Not
only are they few now and their enrolment quotas limited, they are also haunted
by increases in tuition and other fees thus forcing many state scholars to
leave,” he explained.
Three of the premier state universities in the country experienced huge budget
cutbacks this year. The University of the Philippines (UP) has a budget slash of
P356.99 M; Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), P35.07 M; and
Philippine Normal University (PNU), P10.65 M. In fact, a state scholar in the
PUP only receives a subsidy of P43 a day while a cadet in the Philippine
Military Academy get P8,000.
Recently, the UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines reported a measly 22
percent overall student survival from 1st to 4th year college. In June 2004, the
Wallace report revealed that the dropout rate in college is at a staggering
all-time high of 73 percent.
The report also said most students don’t even reach college. Only 7 out 100
students who enter Grade 1 will be able to reach college.
Pre-need Code not Enough
He said the pre-need code alone will not resolve the crisis in education,
particularly in the tertiary level, if the current
administration will continue to slash the education budget every year and
tuition and miscellaneous fee hikes remain deregulated.
He predicted that more pre-need firms are doomed to close this year unless the
government starts to arrest the incessant tuition hikes in tertiary schools by
scrapping the Education Act of 1982.
The deregulation of college tuition through the enactment of the Education Act
in 1982 opened the doors for a sharp rise in tuition, making higher education
more elusive if not impossible to many students for the last two decades.
In a recent study, Anak ng Bayan Youth Party projects that if the average
tuition rate increase of 12 percent continues over the next five years, the
national average per unit would reach P590.20 by 2010. By then tuition would
have increased by as high as 1,257.41 percent since 1990.
From 1990-1995 just before the Asian financial bubble burst in 1997, tuition
jumped to 275 percent. For the last 15 years since 1990, tuition has swelled by
a whopping 670 percent.
Palatino said the closure of pre-need firms sends a distressing signal to
college hopefuls. "Parents and students apply for pre-need plans to ensure that
they may be able to shoulder the high cost of tertiary education,” he said.
“With pre-need firms now closing, access to higher education has become more
elusive to many.”
Bleak Future
However, Palatino said Arroyo can no longer fool the youth with another set of
empty promises. “The youth’s future will remain bleak as long as Arroyo is still
in power.”
Palatino also emphasized that Arroyo’s call for a constitutional change amid
political turmoil is an act of opportunism and another desperate political
maneuver to preserve her power. “Arroyo is diverting the public’s attention to
the real issues hounding her leadership.”
He said there can only be stability and unity once Arroyo will steps down from
office. “Our country can only move on if Arroyo will leave Malacañang.” He added
that Arroyo can only prove her sincerity to effect change in the government if
she will finally heed the people’s call for her to resign.
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Posted on Wednesday, August 03 @ 12:53:09 CDT by don |
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