http://www.pinoypress.net/2010/07/01/release-emergency-funds-for-education-aquino-told/

1 JULY 2010

MANILA — In reaction to President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino’s inaugural speech, a student group called on him to fulfill his promise and immediately commit emergency funds for education.
“Hindi natin ipagpapaliban ang mga pangangailangan ng ating mga estudyante, kaya’t sisikapin nating punan ang kakulangan sa ating mga silid-aralan,” Aquino said in his speech Wednesday. The new president also vowed to provide quality education and employment for the youth.

“Dear Mr. President, our first order of business is the immediate commitment of emergency funds to education,” Terry Ridon, national chairperson of the League of Filipino Students (LFS), said.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) pegged the budget shortage to P91 million insofar as basic education is concerned.

According to ACT, for the incoming school year 2010-2011, there will be a shortage of 54,060 teachers, 4,538 principals, and 6,473 head teachers; 61,343 classrooms, 816,291 seats, and 113,051 water and sanitation facilities. The Department of Education will also need an additional P400 million to address the textbook shortage, the group added.

Ridon, a former Regent of the University of the Philippines (UP), said the shortage in state college and universities (SCUs) amounts to much more, as the previous government had allocated zero capital outlay for SCUs in recent years.

Ridon said that among the beneficiaries of the emergency fund should include the Polytechnic University of the Philippines that, according to him, had refused qualified but poor-and-deserving enrollees due to the scarcity of government funding and the lack of resources.

In the long-term, Ridon said he hopes that the new president fulfills his election promise to spend six percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to education, a standard set by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Arroyo government allotted an average of 3.3 percent of GDP to education.

“Such full funding and budget prioritization would surely address many aspects of the education crisis, particularly education access and the mounting dropouts at all levels,” Ridon said. (PinoyPress)