Gov’t stop pussyfooting: raise “sin” taxes to fund education, says economist
WHAT IS supposed to be achieved in four years, or in 2015, will take the Philippines many more decades to accomplish.
Economist and Inquirer columnist Solita “Winnie” Monsod said, given current spending on education, it would be difficult for the Philippines to meet the minimum goals of the United Nations’ Education for All (EFA) initiative, which the country had committed itself to pursue together with over 100 other nations.
In fact, given current budgetary allocations, it would be many years beyond 2015 before the Philippines could ensure enough classrooms and other facilities, teachers, textbooks and other supplies to meet the requirements of those already in school, never mind providing basic education to every school-aged child.
Under the Dakar Framework for Action adopted in Senegal in 2000, UN member-countries committed themselves to achieve quality basic education for all by 2015.
Specific goals included ensuring that all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, had access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality; achieving a 50 percent improvement in levels of adult literacy, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults; and attaining gender equality in education, with a focus on ensuring girls full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.
Runaway train
Educators in the past complained that the country was just marching in place, simply meeting current educational needs and unable to provide for future requirements. Monsod’s computations of resources required to meet the basic EFA goals made it clear that the Philippine educational system was now chasing a runaway train, and was way short of present and future resource requirements.
Monsod, professor emeritus of the University of the Philippines, was one of the speakers at the recent seminar-workshop for journalists covering the education beat jointly organized by the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), Department of Education, and Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication.
Theme of the seminar, which was also attended by journalism teachers, was “Education Makes News.”
Monsod discussed “Achieving the MDG Education Goal in the Philippines: Can We Do It?” MDG stands for Millennium Development Goals, the eight international development objectives UN member-countries, including the Philippines, are committed to achieve by 2015. EFA is one of those goals.
The former director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority presented statistics that showed that, as of 2008, elementary net enrollment rate was only 85.1 percent of eligible children. This means the country will have to enroll the other 14.9 percent in seven years to achieve 100-percent school participation by 2015.
An even more daunting task is keeping those in school long enough to finish elementary education. In 2008, the completion rate was only 73.3 percent. The education system has to ensure that the other 26.7 percent stay in school until they finish Grade 6 to achieve 100-percent completion by 2015.
These goals do not even consider quality. As Monsod and other experts have repeatedly shown, being in school or completing elementary or high school does not necessarily translate into functional literacy and numeracy.
Quality more costly
But with real expenditure per pupil steadily falling below the actual requirement since 2000, just providing for the physical requirements of each student in the classroom and in school will already use up any modest rise in education budgets. Improving quality to ensure their stay in school, no matter how short, will somehow be life-changing and will need a much bigger expenditure.
Despite self-congratulatory declarations of recent administrations that education would always be a priority, surprisingly it was the former military general Fidel V. Ramos who, as president, gave a bigger slice of the budget to education, according to statistics presented by Monsod. It had been downhill since, particularly during the term of former college professor Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The education budget for 2011 is only about 2.3 percent of projected gross domestic product (GDP) for the year, lower than the hoped for 2.7 percent. Next year’s prospects will probably be bleaker.
To start bridging the serious resource gaps in education, the government will have to allocate 3.8 percent of the expected GDP to education, something that very few people, if any, believe will happen.
Monsod herself is pessimistic. “Setting aside the required amounts for education will be unlikely,” she said, “unless revenue effort increases.” The economist does not only mean more diligent efforts to collect the right amount of taxes, but tapping new sources as well.
In no uncertain terms, Monsod said it was about time the government stopped pussyfooting, and raised so-called “sin” taxes on alcohol, cigarettes and the like.
Money raised from these products could go into education. And, with their prices going up because of higher taxes, people would be discouraged from using the products, thus producing the complementary benefit of reducing health problems associated with them that drain government resources.
Statistics in the United States are beginning to show that health expenditure for diseases associated with cigarette smoking is falling significantly.
