People's Journal

3 June 2009 Opposition Sen. Chiz Escudero yesterday urged government to reduce, if not eliminate, dropout rates in public elementary and high schools in six years.

“We should be able to graduate more students in both levels if not achieve universal primary education by 2015, as targeted in the UN Millennium Development Goals,” he said after speaking at a forum on education at the AIM Center in Makati.

The forum was organized by the Movement for Good Governance, Youth Vote Philippines and Philippine Business for Education.

Escudero said a UN report in 2000 shows that in nearly five decades since the 1960s dropout rates in public elementary level have remained high with 28 to 34 percent failing to complete Grade 6. He said the latest data estimate that of the 100 children who enter Grade 1 only 86 move on to Grade 2, 76 to Grade 4, 67 to Grade 6 and only 65 finally complete the six years of elementary education. Of the 65 only 58 enroll in high school and 45 are able to graduate, Escudero said.

The senator said while the Department of Education has the biggest share of the national budget at P158 2 billion, it still does not meet the standard set by the UNESCO, which is six percent of a country s Gross Domestic Product.

“Education is the greatest equalizer. Most of the children who are left behind live in poverty and in remote areas. The next administration must aggressively move to narrow the education gap and increase education’s share of the national budget to 20 percent,” said Escudero.

He said that more classrooms should be built to meet the 1:25-30 classroom student ratio recommended by the UNESCO.

Escudero said the DepEd has only allocated P3.5 billion for constructing school buildings this school year.