Education (2022-2028)

FOR A long time, our education standards have not obtained unqualified support from international organizations, such as the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Indeed, we have received criticism The law strengthens the Teacher from UNESCO and others. The Education Council and establishes criticism asserts that the education a scholarship for students in the attainment of our students lags teacher education program. behind that which is achieved by It also institutionalizes the students from other countries. National Educators’ Academy of

We have taken the criticisms the Philippines to provide quality seriously and have endeavored to professional development programs seek ways in which we can become on teacher education to in-service more globally competitive than teachers, school leaders and others in hitherto. all public and private basic education

One such way is for us to improve institutions. the quality of teacher education. Will it make a difference?

Last month, President Duterte I believe it will. signed a law that seeks to make the It is vital, however, that the sought-after improvement. This law, incoming Congress ( those taking Republic Act ( RA) 11713, is also office from 1 July) follows through. known as the Excellence in Teacher Congressional t i me needs to Education Act. be allocated so t hat desired

It was put forward by Congress, improvements are implemented. especially a number of high-profile The composition of the incoming Senators, including Senator Leila Department of Education (DepEd) de Lima. is crucial.

Other stakeholders, which includes all of us, also need to monitor actively the consequences of the Act’s passage.

*** What will happen to Education after the new administration takes office?

The vital aspect is financial. The amount spent on education, already P800 billion for 2022, will surely breach the P1 trillion mark by 2024.

We need to discuss education costs in the context of the increasingly

difficult National economy.

Of necessity, our debt to Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) ratio rose from around 40 percent in 2019 to just over 60 percent now. For a developing country, 60 percent is not unacceptable but it is clear that, from an economic point of view, we cannot allow this proportion to rise, unchecked, in the years to come.

Education is a real problem. For this year, we have kept education costs down but only because our teachers did not receive promised pay rises. 2023 will be a challenging year. Teachers will be seeking a rise of at least P10,000 per month in order to regain parity with our police officers. Will this happen?

*** The problem of constraining our debt to GDP ratio is profound. The current administration did excellent work in not allowing our indebtedness to explode, whilst at

the same, ensuring that we did not suffer unduly from the pandemic.

Inevitably, taxes will rise. I hope that direct taxes (our income tax) will be curtailed but that indirect taxes, for example Value Added Tax (VAT) will have to rise, perhaps to 15 percent.

*** Our education sector will be at the forefront of our economic policy.

By 2024, over 30 million students will attend our schools.

Can we control expenses but, at the same time, improve our standard of education?

This is a real challenge./