PRESS RELEASE
June 16, 2010

“As the ailing state of education worsens, we demand the Aquino administration to apply first aid—immediately allocate an emergency fund to education once he assumes presidency on July 1, 2010.”

This was the statement of Terry Ridon, National Chairperson of the League of Filipino Students (LFS), as LFS trooped to the Aquino residence in Times St., Quezon City to demand President-elect Aquino to categorically state that he will allocate an emergency fund to education without delay at the start of his term.

“Because the Filipino people suffer the severe effects of the sprawling economic crisis, more and more Filipino youth drop out and are unable to go to school each year. Paired with incessant budget cuts to education by the Arroyo administration in the last nine years, the education crisis looks close to rock bottom.”

Ridon added that in 2010, over 8 million youth are unable to enter school in the elementary and high school levels. To those who were able to enroll, they are greeted by classes in hallways and comfort rooms, classes with no teachers and rooms with no seats. In the tertiary level, state universities and colleges are likewise grossly underbudgetted and unable to provide quality education to students enrolled.

“This emergency fund is at once needed to alleviate current shortages; but as profound as the education crisis, it is apparent that it will take more than an emergency fund to solve the crisis on the whole,” Ridon concluded.###