Angara bats for higher state investment
in public education

Senator Ed Angara points out that educational investments are the most cost-effective and have the highest returns.

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today said that whoever wins in the May 2007 legislative elections should forge a multi-partisan consensus to give educational concerns "a draconian push" in Congress so the country could regain its faltering competitiveness and be a major player in today's "Knowledge Society."

Angara said that the Congress that would convene after the May elections will be the last one with the opportunity to reverse the slide in the educational system, which he attributes to "decades of under-investment."

He pointed out that of all the state investments, educational investments are the "most cost-effective and have the highest returns because they lift entire generations, adding that the current global competition places a premium on knowledge and information more than anything else.

"Competitiveness in the so-called Knowledge Society is determined by the level of education and training and the corollary social gifts and intelligence that can only come from adequate education and training ," said Angara.

Angara, a former chairman of the Senate education committee and former president of the University of the Philippines, said that he is willing to broker such multi-partisan consensus for education. "Kahit manikluhod ako sa ibang senador, gagawin ko ito."

He proposed that the initial agenda of an "Education Congress" should be in the area of basic education, which means providing enough classrooms, enough books, enough desks, enough laboratories and more training programs to increase the competency and skills of teachers.

The senator said that the incoming Congress can initially agree to pass three laws, which would provide for the following: a law that allocates P5 billion a year for five years to wipe out the classroom shortage in public schools; a law that grants a five-step increase in the pay of public schools teachers, from the present P10,000 a month to P15,000 a month; and, a law that allocates money to build modern science and computer laboratories in all public schools.

The passage of a law that would help the University of the Philippines recapture its top ranking among Asian universities should also be prioritized, according to Angara.

Angara was either the sponsor or author of several landmark education laws, including the Free High School Act, the creation of the TESDA and CHED and the establishment of the voucher system in education via the GASTPE Law.