MANILA, Philippines - Senators on Wednesday heaped praises on street educator Efren Penaflorida for bringing honor to the country after he was named CNN hero of the year as they also pointed out that his win should also prompt government to do more to better the poor state of education in the Philippines.

Even if a Senate resolution had been passed as early as last week hailing Penaflorida for being chosen as a finalist in the CNN award, Sen. Pia Cayetano said she will still file a resolution in honor of the street educator as she pointed out that his achievement ``should inspire us all to become heroes in our own way.’’

``But while his feat should bring great pride to all Filipinos, it also should serve as an eye opener for the government on the need to address the declining state of education throughout the country,’’ she said in a statement.

Cayetano cited for instance that based on latest statistics from the Department of Education, dropout rates remain high at six percent for the elementary level and 7.45 percent for the secondary level.

She said Penaflorida’s ``pushcart classrooms’’ came about because of the low participation rate and high dropout rate in basic education. Alternative volunteer educators like Penaflorida’s group also emerge because of the perennial problems hounding the system like lack of school teachers, classrooms and learning materials every year.

The senator called on the government to do its job of providing quality universal education and could do this by increasing the budget for education and increasing the take home pay of teachers.

For his part, Sen. Ramon ``Bongbong’’ Revilla Jr., also said Penaflorida’s win was a ``wake up call’’ for the government to address the problem of education in the country.

Sen. Loren Legarda and Sen. Richard Gordon said Penaflorida’s win should serve as inspiration to Filipinos in making a difference in the world.