RP’s education budget lacked P1.66T: groups – SunStar

From SunStar Cebu

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
RP’s education budget lacked P1.66T: groups

IF a 1996 Unesco document were to be followed, the Philippine Government owes Filipino students P1.66 trillion to fund education.

This is according to a research found by the Youth Against Debt (YAD)-Cebu and the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC)- Cebu.

In a press conference yesterday, the group said that the Philippines signed the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco) Delors Benchmark that set the education expenditure of developing countries at six percent of the Gross National Product (GNP).
However, 12 years since the country signed the document, it has yet to actually use six percent of the GNP for education expenditure.

Based on statistics presented by YAD and FDC, the highest percentage of the GNP used for education expenditure was at 3.8 percent. This was in 1998 under the term of former president Joseph Estrada.

The lowest percentage was at 2.2 percent and was in 2006 under President Arroyo.

“That is why we have shortages of classrooms, teachers and teaching facilities,” said Jose Aaron Pedrosa of YAD.

Of the developing countries that have signed the benchmark, it was Grenada that spent the highest at about 10 percent of its GNP.

“This shows that there is no relationship with how much you spend for education and your economy,” said Pedrosa.

According to records from YAD and FDC, Swaziland , which has a GNP per capita similar to the Philippines , spends about 6.24 percent of its GNP on education.

YAD and FDC are dismayed that the country spends more on debt servicing than on education.

In 2007, the country’s GNP was P7.2 trillion, said Pedrosa. However, only P164 billion was spent for education.

Pedrosa said the six percent of last year’s GNP for education expenditure should have been P436 billion.

Instead, P627 billion went to payment of the country’s debts, he said.

Yesterday, YAD and FDC formally launched the “Six will Fix” campaign, which aims to urge the government to comply with the Unesco Delors Benchmark.

“We are calling the government to invest in education,” Pedrosa told reporters.

Meanwhile, Department of Education 7 Director Carolino Mordeno was happy to hear of the initiative of the students to lobby for the increase of the education budget. (EPB)