After the liberation of the Philippines in 1946, the educational system has radically changed a lot. The Department of Education oversees education at a state level. Elementary and high school education are compulsory. The department ensures that there is enough funding for school requirements, supplies, and school services. It facilitates recruitment of public school teachers and the organization and supervision of the school curricula.
In 2008, education funding has decreased rapidly due to the economic crisis brought about by the conditions imposed by various funding agencies. The teachers also began to teach more classes every week and the class sizes have increased, too.
This year (2013), President Benigno Aquino III is allotting P292.7 billion, a 22.6 percent increase from P238.8 billion in 2012. The increase is intended to eliminate all resource gaps in education such as classrooms, teachers, textbooks, and other school facilities. With the K12 basic education program on its second year, resource gaps are expected to widen, thus the additional funding is vital to address the problem.
Of course, there are oppositions for such big budget. Education Secretary Armin Luistro detailed as to where the proposed budget is going. He said the department would hire 61,000 new teachers, finish the construction of 66,000 classrooms and 90,000 toilets for public school that could end the backlog in education resources.
The next question after the proposed budget, then, is whether it would be approved or not. If so, would this really suffice the needs for eliminating the present resource gaps which have been a huge problem for such a long time? Will the money be managed and appropriated as it should? If this budget would really be utilized as it should, there is an immense chance that, indeed, the education resource gaps would really end.
Another possible problem that crossed my mind is that despite the big amount, properly allocating it to the different areas should also be looked into. In the city, there is overflowing number of enrollees, thus classes are bigger in number and class sessions are schedules so that teachers can accommodate all the students. In some provinces, however, the class sizes are ideal and there are even spare classrooms that accommodate all the students. It is important to see which school has large population and make sure that these schools get the proper share from the budget. Not that some schools has large population and make sure that these schools get the proper share from the budget. Not that some schools do not need the buffer but it is vital to know what specific resource gap is needed for each school.
There might be schools that have low enrollment but lacks teacher maybe because of demography. This should also be addressed by the department by allocating budget for the teachers that wills be assigned to these places. Or are there enough educational resources such as textbooks and equipment in one particular school? Remember that it is not only the building and class sizes but all resource gaps should be put into mind depending on the areas. Proper utilization and allocation should then be an utmost concern.
By: Gina B. Gravina | Teacher I | Sta. Rosa Elementary School | Pilar, Bataan
