Legislators on Wednesday underscored the need to upgrade the education system to support the country’s aspiration to achieve a first world status by 2050.
Presenting the Initial report on the educational reform program before the 49th Philippine Business Conference and Expo (PBC&E), Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, co-chair of the Second Congressional Education Commission, lamented how basic education has gone from worse to worst during the pandemic.
“Prior to the pandemic, 65 percent of our 10-year-olds could read nor understand a simple story, this is according to the World Bank. It has shot up after the pandemic to 90 percent. We cannot reach that first world status without addressing basic concerns and basic issues surrounding education, particularly basic education because that’s where the foundation begins,” Gatchalian told participants of the 2023 PBC&E organized by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).
Gatchalian said the initial findings of the study on education reform showed that 86 percents of Filipino students were enrolled in public schools. He said this means that 8 of 10 aspirants who, in the future, will work in companies, will be products of public education.
Government spending for basic education reached P721.8 billion in 2023, or about 3.4 percent of the gross national product.
Adding the budget apportioned for technical-vocational (tech-voc) courses and higher education, the combined amount would have surpassed 4 percent of the GDP, which is the global norm in spending for education.
“The government has been catching up in terms of spending per student, considering that the school population is growing. And with the allocation that government is putting into the General Appropriations Act, it has managed to catch up in terms of allocating on a per student basis,” Gatchalian said.
He said there was 1,121-percent increase in per capita spending in the last 30 years. For school year (SY) 2022 to 2023, the per capita spending for education reached P27,866.44 compared to the previous per capita spending of P25,514.38 in SY 2020 to 2021.