MANILA, Philippines -- A two-day “education summit” called by Malacañang opened Thursday in hopes of arresting the deterioration of the country’s school system, now considered among the bottom-dwellers in global student competitiveness and often blamed for producing graduates ill-trained for the job market.

Addressing the 1st Biennial National Congress on Education, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued marching orders for the sector to shape up, including an order requiring teachers to take up English retraining classes equivalent to 24 units and another for children to spend a year in preschool or daycare before entering Grade 1.

Held at the Manila Hotel, the assembly considered the first major review of what has been ailing Philippine education since it was “trifocalized” in 1994, according to Ms Arroyo’s assistant for education, Mona Valisno.

That was the year the government divided the sector among the Department of Education or DepEd (for elementary and high school), the Commission on Higher Education or CHEd (college) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority or TESDA (for vocational courses).

After a morning session for speeches and presentations, about 500 representatives from the three agencies sat down to workshops basically in search of fresh ideas centered on:

• Improving student performance to achieve a “zero-dropout” rate in schools.
• Improving teachers’ competencies, especially in Math, Science and English.
• Addressing the “mismatch” between graduates and the job skills that are actually in demand.

Workshop recommendations are expected to be formally presented on Friday.

Core value

“Education is a core value of Philippine society and family life,” Ms Arroyo said in a keynote speech.

“The hardworking men and women of this nation put their family first. And the best gift any family can give to a child, and any nation can give to its people, is access to a good education.”

The President last year issued Executive Order No. 652 creating the Presidential Task Force for Education to assess and chart directions for the educational system with the end-view of defeating poverty and elevating the country to First World status in 20 years.

The report of the task force would be among the major points to be considered in the workshops.

DepEd challenges

In a presentation, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus reported alarming figures representing some of the “challenges” faced by his department:

Citing the need to improve preschool education, Lapus said only 35 percent of Filipino children entering the elementary level could be considered “Grade 1-ready.” The remainder are likely to drop out by the time they reach Grade 3.

Up to 5.6 million Filipinos aged 6 to 11 years are currently out of school, and are either in the streets or engaged in low-paying jobs that make them easy prey to human trafficking and exploitation.

A total of 11.6 million Filipinos today have not attended school and may be counted as illiterate.

A total of 2,163 elementary and high schools “performed badly” in the recent National Achievement Tests with scores “below 35 percent.”

Priority schools

Lapus said this lowest 5 percent of the total number of schools nationwide would be given priority in terms of teacher retraining and supplemental learning materials for students. Class sizes in these schools will also be reduced to “a more manageable level of 45 students per classroom.”

Basic education in the Philippines gets a budget way below that prescribed by international standards, he noted.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), for instance, says that at least 6 percent of a country’s gross domestic product should be allocated for education, while the World Bank encourages developing countries to spend at least 20 percent of their national budget on this sector, Lapus said.

“We are at only 2.5 percent of the GDP and only 12 percent of the national budget,” he said.

“Blame it on the weak fiscal position of the country, its huge debt burden. The solution here is further improvements in our fiscal condition; we cannot allocate what we do not have.”

10,000 classrooms

The President also reported that the government had achieved a “target ratio” of one classroom per 50 grade school students on double shifts as of 2006. Last year, some 15,000 more classrooms were built in far-flung areas, she said.

“This year, we will start the construction season for 10,000 classrooms,” she said.

Ms Arroyo noted that beginning school year 2001-02, a measure discontinuing the DepEd’s collection of fees on enrollment day had helped increase the chances of children enrolling and finishing school.

By 2006 the government has also trained over 100,000 teachers to improve Math and Science instruction, she said.

Outside the summit venue, six militant students were arrested and several others were hurt when their protest rally was dispersed by policemen.

Arrested were Joanna Rose Adenit and Emman Montado of the Philippine Normal University, Crimson Laglera of Polytechnic University of the Philippines (Anakbayan), Alvin Cerrano of PUP-League of Filipino Students, Arlo Cervantes of University of the Philippines-Diliman, and Vic del Rosario from Caloocan City.

They were brought to the Manila police station on United Nations Avenue for questioning. With a report from Tina G. Santos