|
CEAP Concerns
Mr. Mariano Piamonte
Executive Director, CEAP
 Rev. Monsignors, Superintendents, Catechetical Directors
and other participants, good afternoon.
The task this afternoon is
supposed to be by Fr. Rod Salazar (SVD) but because he has a prior
commitment he asked me to take his place and communicate with you
the concerns of CEAP at the moment.
I cannot be with you tomorrow in the program
my name appears there on advocacy section of the conference together with
a Atty Ulan Sarmiento and Neil because I also have a prior commitment as
speaker in the GASTPE in - service training of principals in Region VI so I have
to fly to Aklan. But I have given some instructions to Neil how to go
about the concerns on advocacy tomorrow although I will also begin to touch
on advocacy. The rest of the advocacy concerns will be taken up tomorrow
with Atty. Ulan Sarmiento and Mr. Neil Pariñas.
One of the most important concerns that CEAP
is trying to address is really the survival and sustainability of our member
- schools particularly the small and mission schools located in the rural
areas. But we should not think that a survival and sustainability problems
are facing only the small schools. Even the bigger schools at the moment
are being threatened. I've heard of big schools with big enrolment decreases
during the past two or three years. I am trying to study the trend. There
is really a continuing decline in the enrolment of private schools in all
levels from basic education up to the tertiary level. Of course there
are programs that are picking up. For example, nursing -- so everybody
is trying to offer nursing and CHED should be more strict in the approval
of the nursing schools. The other day when I was in Davao I
met one of the School heads and he said if they only listened to me 3
or 4 years ago when I told them to begin considering the offering of
nursing. They would have been financially better off now. And
the school heads said "we really regretted it because now our enrolment
is just practically one half of what we had 3 years ago!" And he said, "I
just came from CHED" and looking at the requirements now, he we will surely
have a hard time complying. Sometimes opportunities knock at our doors
and you know sometimes opportunities knock only once. We have to meet
opportunities with readiness.
Now survival and sustainability problems are
basically caused by the following: 1) Competition with Public and State schools
as well as the other Private schools. You remember in the "State of the Nation
Address" by Pres. GMA on educational issues, she said that the government
is trying to put up a school in every barangay. Although that is really
a very ambitious program given the current budgetary constraints of the
government, but the message is -- there is a continuous effort on the part
of the government to really provide educational opportunities to as many
citizens as possible specially those who cannot afford to pay for private
education. That is why we noticed that more and more government high schools
are being set up, more and more state colleges and universities are being
opened. Even the existing colleges and universities, they offer extension
classes in as far away as they can reach. We have communicated with the
legislators and even with the president during one of our meetings with
her. (In) a dinner meeting in Malacañang a few months before the elections,
the legislators said, "First, if we stop opening government and states
schools can you provide free if not cheaper kind of education to those
who cannot afford?" Of course it's very difficult to answer that because,
we depend on school fees. So indeed, we cannot block the government from
opening schools for the poor. The president also said, "you maybe politically
and logically correct but you are not politically sound." So naturally,
the president will not really exert efforts to put a stop to the opening
of state colleges and universities. At the moment we are a little bit lucky
to have a chair of the education committee in the senate in the person
of Senator Flavier. There is lack of educator senator in the senate except
for Senator Angara. But Sen. Angara preferred chairmanship of other committees
instead of education and so the chairmanship fell into the hands of Sen.
Flavier who is not an educator but we say Doctor and he accepted the position
with great reluctance. He said, "I will accept the chairmanship provided
that no bill concerning the opening state college or university be approved
during my term." In some of the public hearings on the creation of colleges
and universities in the lower house there are some which were already
approved on 3rd reading and I said to myself this will be
a test to the sincerity of Sen. Flavier if this bill will be elevated
to the upper house and will be reviewed by his committee. I will try and check whether he
is true to his promise, that he will not allow the approval of a new state
college or university. We have also to be concerned about the growing competitiveness
of government schools -- the public elementary and high schools are improving. Every
new Education Secretary tries to leave some legacy so they introduce innovations
during their term and we noticed also that in recent government administration
most of the secretaries appointed were coming from the private education
sector. And when they come from the private education sector you can be
sure that they will really try to introduce innovations and improve quality. Remember
we had Sec. Lourdes Quisumbing and she was followed by Sec. Cariño from
the University of the East and then by Arman Fabella from Jose Rizal College, now a university and he was formerly
a government bureaucrat consultant and then followed by Sec. Gloria and
he was followed by Sec. Andrew Gonzales. Then of course, there was short
term under Sen. Roco but then back to the private hands of Sec. Edilberto
De Jesus and now lately Sec. Florencio Abad. In one of the meetings I have attended
with the new secretary, he was very apologetic. He says, "you know, first
I am not an educator, I know very little about education you have to help
me." That's a good sign, at least you have a secretary with an open mind
who's ready to accept suggestions and recommendations.. Because (before) we
had a secretary who is all knowing in his attitude and he refuses to accept
suggestions and recommendations. When you make a recommendation he will
tell you, "who are you to tell me what to do?" So these are some of
the traits of a secretary of education.
They're also putting up science high schools.
Before ilan ilan lang ang science high schools. Ngayon,
halos every capital town, kung walang science high school they
have special classes for the gifted students. Naturally, even children
or students who can afford private education if they know that there
is a free education in the government side and good quality being a
science and technology high school they would also enroll the student
there. State colleges and universities -- they are also vastly improving.
They also have accreditation programs -- they accredit some programs.
These are good for Philippine national development but they really
pose a threat to the private schools. So
unless the private schools will shape up they will really lose in their
competition.
(2) Second survival concern is too much dependence
on school fee income and for the GASTPE participating schools too much
dependence on ESC/TFS grants. Why is this a problem? First if we depend
too much on school fee income we tend to keep on increasing and increasing
our school fees to meet the increasing cost of operations and we know that
as we continue to increase our school fees we are also driving away the
students who have difficulty affording our cost of education. Too much
dependence on ESC/TFS ( Educational Service Contracting Scheme- TFS Tuition
fee supplements)grants -- this is not a good sign because you know when
the government is delayed in the payment of the grants, it depends on
the availability of funds. Malaking problema yun with a small
school, if 80 or 90 or 100 percent of your operations depend on the GASTPE
grant. Some of the administrators
they borrow from their congregations. Those congregations who have resources
but for smaller congregations which do not have resources, where will the
school administrators go? They cannot also run to the Bishops because the
Bishops do not have resources so the result is, the salaries and benefits
of teachers are delayed and sometimes the benefits are no longer given. I
knew there were some schools who were not yet paid. Well, partly because
the schools themselves are at fault. Until now I am told by some FAPE
(Fund for Assisting to Private Education) personnel there are schools which
have not fully complied with the requirements with the documentary requirements
of their GASTPE papers, documents. So talagang madedelay yun because
the DepEd (Department of Education) will not pay the grants unless everything
is in order. Ang dami-daming mga >mali mali pa rin tsaka yung delay. It all depends on how fast our school administrator can process. The
problem is, the administrator submits the documents without even reviewing. Pagdating
doon sa regional office ng GASTPE tambak yung mga folders
doon eh kelan pa maprocess yun? When processed ibabalik
na naman sa inyo it takes time. I've
been always reminding our school administrators "ang tagal
na natin dito sa program na ito hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin tayo talaga
natuto, ok?" Slow
learners. slow learners.
Now, yung competition
with the government schools, the most that we can do is just try to persuade. Persuasion. I don't
think really we can put a stop to it we just have to enhance our competitiveness
that we are really better than most government schools and perhaps that will
attract our parents to continue patronizing our private schools. Yung too
much dependence on school fees and ESC grants we can partly solve this
by first trying to source alternative income-- be entrepreneurs. More
and more school administrators now are trying to raise. I know some of
the administrators they buy land and now they begin to plant mangoes in Mindanao. There was one high school principal who came to me and said, "sir
there's a five-hectare lot beside our school that is being offered. What
is your advise?" Sabi ko, "grab
it, grab it then you plant something or whatever even if the land is
open land put cows and goats there. These are the animals that are less
to take care of, you feed them with the least expense unlike chickens
and pigs every time you feed them you really need money, tsaka mabaho
pa." Ok,
so you just have to find ways and means.
Ateneo de Davao, if you look at Ateneo de Davao
now they have this new building in the college campus elementary and secondary
they also have new buildings in the college campus. It's right in the heart
of the city and it is in a commercial district. You know the ground floor
of the entire big building is being rented out, so many, even the Philippine
Airlines and Manila Bulletin is there and there's even a little mall in
there, see? And this is already Ateneo, and still they are tapping alternative
sources of income. I think our school administrators should really begin
to think how you can really pull, raise alternative sources of income.
Now this competition with government schools
and also too much dependence on school fees which result to the continuous
increase in tuition fees both result to a decline in enrolment. I mentioned earlier
both small and big schools are now really facing a decreasing enrolment
over the years because also of our lack of financial resources. Declining
enrolment, too much dependence on school fees they also result to deteriorating
quality of education, inadequate facilities and instructional materials. Although
at the moment generally we are better compared to the public schools, there's
still many public schools with lack of classrooms, lack of textbooks. But
the public school in the progressive towns you will notice that they
are even better looking than our private school.
3) Fast turn over of faculty and staff due to
low salaries. No, because if we don't have adequate income we cannot offer
attractive salaries. They either go to the public schools or go abroad
as domestic helpers. Many teachers are also enrolling in the nursing
program. One example is Brokenshire in Davao. Before 5 or more years ago Brokenshire had a financial
problem they had very little enrolment and then came this demand for nursing
and I think Msgr. Capalla can attest to this, they now have four thousand
enrolments in nursing alone. They offer this second course program which
even doctors enrolled and they finish nursing program in two years.
4) Lack of qualified and competent teachers in
some subjects areas. In rural areas for example, it's very difficult to recruit
a licensed high school teacher in mathematics & sciences. If our teachers
are not qualified then our quality of education will deteriorate and the
parents can sense that we are as bad, if not worse, than the public schools.
What's the point of enrolling their children in our schools when they
receive the same kind of education in the public schools for free? So
they might as well move their students to the public schools.
5) Lack of faculty development in instructional
innovation and information communication technology. If our students do not
have some instruction in ICT computers they will have a difficult time when
they go to college. They enroll in city schools. They will really be left behind
by those who have training in ICT. Well, the school that can afford even
start the ICT in elementary as early as grade I so you can imagine if
ICT is offered every year until 4th year the students are really
more prepared in ICT when they go to college.
6) Too much emphasis on banking type of education. Remember
Paulo Praire, (this was said many decades ago until now) our school still
emphasizes on memory and restore instead of creative, analytical and critical
thinking and problem solving. So I think this is something that our schools
have to look into. That's why do we wonder why our citizens do not know
how to choose their leaders? This is because we have not trained them
to be analytical and critical.
7) The other concern of CEAP is legislative concerns. At
the moment, there are certain bills in Congress that we are watching very
carefully. In the orientation meeting we had with the Committees on Education
right after the elections when the committee already formed in both houses
of congress, some bills were being presented first. The proposed bill
to rationalize school fee increases in private schools. Actually, it's
not really rationalizing but really limiting increasing in school fees. The
proposed bill to limit the increase up to 15% in the entry level in grade
I, in grade V, in 1st year high school and in 1st year
college. Once the students go into 2nd year, 3rd year,
4th year there will no longer be school fee increase for him,
so the increases are just limited in the entry levels. It is very difficult
for the schools -- this means that you can only get your increase in income
from 1st year and yet when you pay salaries to school personnel
its not only for 1st year teacher but for all from 1st year
up to 4th year and for the non-teaching personnel this will
really adverse the effect not only of the school operation acquisition
of instructional materials and facilities but also the salaries and benefits
of our teachers. The other bill is providing greater benefits to our teachers. One
of the sponsors, say Loreta Rosales, looks at the proposed benefits to
teachers' free scholarship of children of course that's already being done
by many schools.free hospitalization, sabbatical leave of one year with
pay every five years of teaching, medical assistance to teachers in case
of hospitalization. I told some of the committees "don't think that we
are as rich as San Miguel Corporation." I don't think even San Miguel
can offer what Congressman Rosales says..you know the problem is when the
bill is being sponsored by legislators who have no knowledge of school
operations. But you know, every time there's a public hearing the students
leaders are there, the faculty representatives especially from the ACT,
the Association of Concerned Teachers, mostly from the activist groups,
they are being listened to by more congressmen than us. Facing the cameras
and this media people they are focused more on the students and faculty's
representatives rather than on the administrator's representatives. Mas maraming pumalakpak doon sa kabilang side kesa dito sa atin. Sometimes
we do our advocacy by talking personally to the legislators in their respective
offices. You know, this is a good strategy because if you begin to argue
against the author, the proponents of the bill in public, they tend to
grand stand and they adopt the hard line position. But the moment you begin
talking to them in their offices in private they begin to soften up and
then you can present to them all your concerns, your objections and they
begin to understand.
Then we have this proposed bills to use English as
the medium of instruction in all subjects except Filipino. Sabi naming, ginawa na natin yan noon pero because of this mga nationalistic
views siguro yung mga masyadong nationalistic nakalimutan
na nila that we live in a community
of nations yung pananaw nila hindi global, masyadong parochial. Ang
ginawa kasi, some of the subjects--social
sciences etc. they were taught in Filipino. So, nabawasan ng subjects that were taught in English.
Secondly, I remember I presented this opinion during
our dinner meeting with GMA. She was very much concerned about this deteriorating
quality of communication among our students and she said, "you know reports
that werel given to me shows that for every one thousand applicant call
centers positions, barely 30 are accepted and she said many applicants
even from our supposedly elite schools they do not qualify as operators
of call centers. And I told the president, "You know one problem is noong binawasan yung time for English subjects. During our time we separate
subject for composition and literature and we had even other subjects like
speech and drama, oral English then what DepEd did was to fuse. So, two
subjects ginawang
isa, binawasan yung time. So
what do you expect?" The students learn a little of grammar, a little
of literature depends on the emphasis of the teachers. Some teachers emphasize
more on grammar and composition because they are not literature teachers.
It could also be the opposite -- too much emphasis on literature but little
on grammar. In college, I'm a mathematics major but during our time the
minimum requirement for English in every course was 24 (units), ngayon ginawa na lang 12
(units). Malaki talagang kabawasan -kalahati. During our time, we had 24 units of philosophy ngayon, ginawa yata na 6 na lang. We had 24 units of theology, ngayon, ginawa na lang 12. So, are we surprised that our students no longer
go to church? Yes, kasi sumabay din ang ating mga school sa pagbabawas ng mga units eh. We even had 24 units of Spanish, noong araw kaya namin yung 27-30 units per semester and we didn't even have
the facilities like Xerox. Yung isang libro sa library nag-iisa, pag-uwi mo sa bahay yung
ilaw hindi pa 24 hours nao-off na ng 10 o' clock or 12. Ilang beses nasusunog
yung buhok ko nakatulog ako natumba yung lampara. Ngayon, with all the facilities the quality of education
continue to decline. Tingnan mo ngayon
ang mga bata halos din a makadala ng kanilang libro. Noong araw, "Pepe and Pilar" we fold it and we place it here,
and then they say the quality of education 20, 30 years were better and
people spoke better English than today. Ang teachers natin noong araw bihira ka nakarinig na nag-Saturday
classes kasi ang graduate schools ino-offer ng malayo.
Graduate-schools were offered in San Carlos, Cebu. I have to go there to Cebu City during summer. Ngayon
halos every college offers
MA. Ang dami dami ng MA, ang dami dami ng PhD and
yet the quality of education continues to decline. Kasi
isang problema dyan yung commitment ng teachers. Ngayon ang teachers
talaga very time conscious,
very money conscious. Noong araw nagdidikit kami
ng mga audio visuals, gumagawa ng mga audio visual in the classroom, in the school, Saturdays
and even in the evening up to 9 o'clock -- no complains! Now, you ask the teachers to remain for a little while
on Fridays for meetings or ask them to report on Saturday for meetings
they will complain and they will ask, "magkano
ba ang.?" And then this a
legislative concern on government support to private education. I am
a member of the State Assistance Council--that is the highest Policy
in decision making body with regards to the implementation of GASTPE
(Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education)
assistance programs in secondary as well as in the tertiary, and even
in TESDA Technical Vocational Schools. Sa ngayon, we have what we call as the educational service contracting
as one of the programs under the present GASTPE law.
What is Educational Service Contracting? It is a program
similar to a voucher system. Have you heard of the voucher system? That
is being implemented in some countries, in Europe, and many States in America. Under the voucher system, the government faces the
same amount that is spent on every student enrolled in the public school
to the private schools that accommodate students under the voucher systems.
For example, if the cost is ten thousand (P 10,000) how does the government
arrive at the per student cost? In the public schools the total DepEd Budget
divided by the total enrolment in the public school--that is the per student
cost. That is how much the government spends to educate one child through
out the country. At the moment it's five thousand eight hundred (P5,800)
according to statistics given by Dept. Ed. Now under the voucher system
the student can enroll in any school of his choice. Dalahin na nya yung voucher if he enrolls in the public school then of
course its accepted by the public schools. It does not pay to itself coz
the public school is being subsidized. But if the students enroll in a
private school of his choice, brings the voucher, the schools enroll the
students, accepts the voucher and after awhile the school in cashes the
voucher in designated government institution for that purpose. Kung
anung nakalagay na amount doonper student cost, yun ang ibabayad ng gobyerno. And
the beneficiary of the voucher system also is regardless of family income,
under the voucher system. So, even if you're a son or daughter of millionaire
you can still avail of the voucher system. The only requirement under the
voucher system is that the student must be willing to pay the difference
between what the private schools charges and the amount that is stated
in the voucher. If the cost in the private school is twelve thousand and
the voucher is ten thousand then the student will have to pay the difference.
What are the principles of a voucher system? First,
it is really an obligation of the government to provide education to all
citizens. Secondly, education of course is a benefit that maybe availed
of even by those who can afford. Do not think that just because government
education is free it's only intended for the poor. It's also open to those
who can afford, in fact between a poor family who does not pay taxes, and
a family who pay taxes it's the rich families that deserve the voucher
because the voucher is being supported by the government taxes and yet
he cannot enjoy the benefits of the taxes that he is paying.
Now we have the ESC which is actually a modified voucher
system. Why "modified"? First, the government does not pay the full cost
of education in the public school per student cost. At the moment the voucher
grant is only four thousand (P4,000) per student-- way below the five thousand
eight hundred that is stated by the DepEd as per student cost. Secondly,
the students cannot choose the schools once he avails of the ESC. He only
goes to a school that is designated by the government as a participating ESC School. Third difference, the ESC is only availed of by
students whose family income is below the poverty level. Until now yung poverty level na yan
ng NEDA since the time of Bro.
Andrew even stated in the GASTPE law P72, 000. Is it a wonder why the Philippine
economy has not really advanced is because if NEDA cannot even produce
the latest poverty level income so what do you expect of NEDA to produce
other data for economic development? Why does NEDA take so long to update
the poverty level income? P72,000 was during Bro. Andrew's time until now yun pa rin ang ginagamit to determine students who are qualified to avail
of the ESC. P72, 000 divided by13 months, you expect the parents to earn
less than P6, 000 a month to qualify for the ESC? Masyadong
mababa yun. There are families
who earn 10-12 thousand and yet they are still very poor. P6, 000 a month,
P200 a day, how much can you buy with P200 a day? Babayaran pa ng estudyante
ang difference noongprivate school fees and yung ESC grants. What are we doing at the moment in relation
with a GASTPE program? First, I've always fought for the increase in the
GASTPE amount. It started with 900, then it became 1000, 1100, 1500, naging 2,500, now it is 4000. If Sec. De Jesus had to stay
longer in DepEd, sana ma-fulfill namin
yung pinag-usapan that DepEd
Should pay the participating private school the same amount, because we
say its not fair. The private schools offer better education and yet they
are not paid the same amount that the government spends in the government
school. If the students were to move to the public schools, the government
will spend the same amount so why should the government pay the private
school a lesser amount? So we're fighting for fairness. Sec. De Jesus also
created a technical working group and I am a member there representing
COCOPEA, to review the GASTPE programs and make some proposal for improvement
especially in the ESC aspect of the program. Now there is a copy of the
current GASTPE law in your kit. During the planning sessions, although
I did not attend the latest one, I was given a copy of these proposed bills
not only on implementation on Rel. Ed but also on government assistance.
Now those bills by Rene Sagisag they ante dated the GASTPE law. In other
words, yun
ang nauna sa GASTPE law but
what was approved was not the proposed bills of Rene Sagisag. I was telling
some of the members, those who planned for this conference, we are always
advised that instead of a new bill an amendment or an existing bill will
be faster. It's faster to approve an amendment rather than to approve a
new bill, so the proposal on government subsidy through a voucher system
will be more assured if it is integrated into the current GASTPE law. That's
why I told Neil to reproduce that particular section. In the listing of
programs in the GASTPE law nauna doon yung tuition fee supplement, that tuition fee supplements
provide students only with P500 amount. There are some schools here which
are participating in the GASTPE program
tinanggal na yun ni Sec. De
Jesus so gradually it's being phased out. What we proposed is the voucher
system in lieu of tuition fee supplements and what did we say? Voucher
system for students in private elementary and secondary schools. The government
shall approve financial assistance for tuition and other school fees of
qualified students in private elementary and secondary schools through
a voucher system in the following manner: For students enrolled in private
schools charging not more than the per student cost in the public school.
The government pays them with the voucher in an amount equivalent to the
actual charges of the said school. For example, the per student cost in
the public school is 5800 and we have a participating private school charging
only 5000 the government will not pay 5800 because that is over pricing.
The government will just pay 5000 because that is what our participating
school is charging. But for students enrolled in private schools charging
more than the per student cost in the public schools, the government shall
pay them with voucher in an amount not exceeding the per student cost in
the public schools. Kung ano yung per student cost ng public
school yun ang ibabayad. Kung higher yung charges
ng private schools. Now can our country adopt a full blown voucher system
that even children of rich people should avail of it, in principle, as
I stated earlier, the children of rich people also deserve the voucher
system..after all they are the ones who are paying taxes to support this
program, but given the budgetary constraint of the government. If you say
that the voucher system will be availed of by all students regardless of
family income, mahirapan tayo sa approval n'yan kasi sasabihin ng legislator, "we
cannot afford." We can even hardly afford the ESC grants much lower amount
than the per student cost in the public school how much more if we open
the voucher system to all students. So we thought that strategically to
convince our senators or congressmen is to propose a modified voucher system
but what we should insist is the amount to be given to the participating
private schools must be the same as what the government spends in the public
schools. Will we give the students a choice which school they want to enroll?
There are advantages and disadvantages. Advantages--to
the students because they can choose the more quality schools, the better
schools. Disadvantages to the schools whose quality is less than the other
existing schools in the community kasi walang mage-enroll sa kanila pupunta
sila doon sa qualified schools. Yan ay ating titimbangin because
remember, yung ating maliliit na schools talo sila sa
competition noong mga accredited schools and mga schools na mataas taas yung quality. If we'll allow complete freedom to the students,
which is logically the more correct approach, ang problema nga maiiwanan yung mga maliliit na schools
instead of empowering or helping the small schools. They're still struggling
to upgrade their quality. They will not be able to have students or very
few students will enroll in this struggling schools, so tinitimbang
din namin if we'll allow free
choice or shall the government prescribe the number of slots. At the moment,
the State Assistance Council, which I am a member, we're trying also to
increase the number of slots. Tumaas na yung number
of slots natin, no participating schools will receive less than
30 in 1st year our target is 50 students minimum in a participating
schools isang section yun. Kasi sabi namin kailangan sustainable
din yung group of students that are given because if the total
income from ESC is not even enough to pay the salaries of teachers in a
particular classroom mahirapan talaga yung school.
So we're striving to maximize the number of slots to be given to the participating
schools.
So these are the initiatives as far as the government
assistance to students is concerned. If we're thinking of direct government
subsidy, mas mahirap yun. We're
asking the government to provide us, given the budgetary constraint - it's
very, very difficult. It's better to fight for a voucher system rather
than for direct assistance. If we are only a first world country we can
expect the government to afford direct assistance. It's being done in Australia, for example, Catholic schools are being subsidized
by the government. But we are not like Australia, so we just have to be realistic. If we want the
bill to be approved, then we must see to it that it is attainable and it
is affordable by the government.
The proposed bill on teaching of a religion in the
public schools will be taken up tomorrow with Atty. Ulan Sarmiento.
|
