Steep path to learning

It is heartening to know that all sectors are working together for a smooth opening of classes across the country in elementary and high schools today and in colleges and universities next week.

The cooperation of parents, teachers, the police and even the clergy in creating enabling environments where children can learn will result not only in a domestic feat.

It is also part of our international commitment to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations, one of which is the provision by 2015 of universal primary education for boys and girls.

Front and center are our children, who are being prepared under the new K to 12 program of President Benigno Aquino III’s administration to become persons who stand shoulder to shoulder with their peers elsewhere in the world in terms of acquired knowledge and skills.

Simply put, education is our children’s most powerful tool in building a stable future for themselves and their loved ones.

Colleges and universities nationwide like the University of the Philippines are preparing through curriculum revision and course streamlining for the first products of the K to 12 program who will go through higher education in the year 2017.

The massive changes dovetail with the economic integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2015, which entails, among others the institution of similar quality higher education programs in the member states.

We cannot underassess the value of volunteer movements like the decade-old Brigada Eskwela (Study Brigade) in powering the formal learning experiences of our children.

Without golden-hearted benefactors and volunteers like those who worked for fire-razed Candulawan Elementary School in Talisay City to rise again, there will be inequities in the country’s pursuit of this crucial MDG.

But while the government is increasing the budget for basic schooling, we find the outpouring of money into education relatively slow.

It is no secret that the greatest economies of the world, as in  Europe’s Scandinavian region rose through generously financed education sectors.

Now that the Philippines rides high as the new Asian dragon, being the fastest growing economy in the first quarter this year, phenomena like the shortage of 400 classrooms in Lapu-Lapu City is rather archaic and unjustifiable.

There is no longer a reason for the Philippines to remain a bottom dweller in the ranking of countries according to public spending on education.

Education spending should not remain at just below a measly 3 percent of the total budget. In the Central Intelligence Agency’s fact book, Kiribati is cited for using nearly a fifth of its public money on education.

In fact, the government ought to hasten the obsolescence of Brigada Eskwela by making sure that education infrastructure is adequate and durable. Local governments can supply for education inadequacies through supplemental budgets.

That way, kids are always assured of conducive learning environments, and community resources otherwise spent to repair and beautify schools can be channeled elsewhere as in enterprise to better support or save for the peripheral, not the main costs of education.