Shortchanging our children

The State, according to our Constitution, shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels, and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all. Article XIV mandates that the State assign the highest budgetary priority to education.

- BOO CHANCO

As always, we have a legal document that expresses the best intentions. But our leaders crumble in the implementation. PISA, the international diagnostic test, has determined that our youth are least able to read, write and count compared with those from other countries.

How could that tragedy happen when education takes the lion's share of the national budget year after year? Perhaps, a good part of DepEd's humongous budget is wasted on corruption, an oversized bureaucracy and flawed educational strategies.

Also, according to international benchmarks, we are not spending at least four percent of GDP on education.

In 2014, we only allocated 2.4 percent of GDP, 2.5 percent in 2015 and 3.3 percent in 2016.

In 2017, the Philippines finally reached the benchmark of allocating at least four percent of GDP to education. But this allocation level was not sustained. It was 3.4 percent in 2019, 3.9 percent in 2020 and 2021, and 3.6 percent in 2022 and 2023.

The four percent benchmark is the UNESCO reference point for countries in setting their spending targets. Research shows that countries that increase their investment per student as they progress through schooling from age 6 to 15 years old experience improvements in learning outcomes. The Philippines spends significantly less per student compared to our regional counterparts and remains below the international benchmark.

But large increases in our education budget are not enough. EDCOM 2, the commission looking into improving our education outcomes, points out that it is important to spend properly.