Secretary, Department of Education,
Philippines(Contribution at the High-Level SDG Action Event on Education, UN Headquarters, New York, 28 June 2017)Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:
My contribution to answering the question “What will it take to achieve SDG 4”, is based on my experience as Secretary of the Department of Education in the Philippines. I submit four insights for our consideration.
First, I believe achieving SDG4 in all places requires that we also attain peace. Conflict, especially armed conflict, dislocates learners from their schools and communities, and sets back achievements we have already registered. As we speak, the Philippines is dealing with a destructive armed conflict in a city in Southern Philippines. This has resulted in massive evacuation of the local population, affecting an estimated more than 20,000 learners in the area.
Second, governments will be more effective in moving towards SDG4 and its targets if they have a strong legal framework for accessible quality education. In the Philippines, the alignment of our programs to SDG4 is made much easier by our clear constitutional policy for the state to protect and promote the right of citizens to quality education that is accessible to all. Pursuant to this policy, our constitution directs the state to maintain a system of free public education in the elementary and high school levels.
Third, the strong legal framework for accessible quality education must be backed by adequate financing. The Philippine constitution matches its mandate for accessible quality education with the commitment to “assign the highest budgetary priority to education”. Thus, the Department of Education enjoys the highest allocation in the Philippine budget among all line agencies. For 2016-2017, such allocation allowed our public school system to provide free public education to 86.28% or 21.5 million out of the total 24.9 million learners from Kindergarten to Senior High School. We have supplemented this with a voucher program to subsidize the tuition of learners in private secondary schools. In total, we have provided either free or highly subsidized basic education to 23.1 million learners or 92.6% of combined enrolment in public and private elementary and secondary schools.
The need for ever-increasing resources, however, requires us to look beyond the traditional modes of financing through the national budget, contributions of multilateral and bilateral organizations, contributions of civil society organizations, and contributions of state-owned enterprises. In the Philippines we have complemented such traditional modalities with public-private partnerships including build-lease-transfer agreements for the construction of some of our school buildings, and the voucher program that I mentioned. We are providing a tax incentive to private sector donations to education. We have also mobilized parents and members of the community to contribute materials, financial resources, and labor to prepare schools for school opening in an annual event called Brigada Eskwela or “school brigade”.
As a caveat, being able to secure financial resources for the modernization of education systems is not enough. The implementing agencies must have the absorptive capacity to utilize these resources efficiently and on schedule. Delays in program and budget execution have a huge impact on the ground, and consequently on target outcomes. Thus, it is indispensable that we are able at the same time to institute management and financial reforms, including in planning, having real-time management information systems, financial literacy, and monitoring and evaluation.
Fourth, we need to be ready with innovative responses to address emerging and country-specific challenges to the provision of quality education for all. I mention at least 4 areas needing innovative response.
One, in many developing economies, there is still the challenge of school drop-outs. In the Philippines, the provision of free basic education notwithstanding, the reality is that many Filipino children and youth still drop out of school, particularly at the secondary level. Among the top reasons for dropping out is employment or looking for work.
The Alternative Learning System (ALS) is my Department’s flagship program for providing a viable alternative to the existing formal education instruction, in order to reach Filipino youth and adults who have failed to complete basic education. The ALS program offers non-formal education comprising the Basic Literacy Program (BLP) and the Accreditation and Equivalency Program (A&E). We will enhance ALS further by initiating a sub-program, which will integrate a skills training component with the existing academic intervention. This initiative aims to produce ALS completers who are not only able to catch up with basic academic education, but have also acquired technical competencies suitable for immediate employment. Two, we need to find ways to deliver education service to our learners wherever they may be. By way of example, my Department has a partnership with a private company, developing a prototype “self-contained” classroom, which we call the “Egg”, equipped with its own solar power system, cooling system, built-in personal computer stations, and alternative connectivity to the internet through television white space. We are looking at its potential in providing access to education in remote, un-electrified, unconnected places. Another partnership involves the provision of buses equipped with ICT facilities to provide ICT education to learners in various localities.
Three, while before the problem is reaching learners in remote places, now dealing with congestion in major urban centers is posing a new challenge. There are major urban centers like Metro Manila where the issue is not the availability of financial resources, but congestion and the exhaustion of buildable space for schools. Addressing this will require innovations in building designs and urban planning.
Finally, one factor that can upset all planning and preparation is natural disasters. Major disasters have become more frequent and devastating, putting a strain on resources and disrupting delivery of education services. In the Philippines, for July 2016 to early 2017, we had to deal with at least seven major weather related calamities and an earthquake that affected many regions of the country. These brought total or major partial damages to about 10,000 classrooms, in addition to significant non-infrastructure damages. Our planning and preparation must be able to mitigate damages, and ensure nimble systems that enable quick and adequate response to natural disasters.
