Senator Mar Roxas believes the first step to improve education outcomes in the Philippines is to set-up a clean and honest government that is committed to prioritizing public investments in education.
He vowed that the Liberal Party will end the short-sighted and bankrupt approach of the government in education and reform the education sector.
"The first step in reforming the education sector is to establish a clean and honest government," Roxas said.
Roxas, Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said the characteristics of a leader who can save the education system from collapse are:
A leader who can say "no" to any commission or bribe. He is capable of eradicating corruption that has been gobbling up all govern-ment investments in the education system; a leader who has a comprehensive, long-term and step-by-step plan on how to reform the education system;" a leader who is focused on reforming the education sector as a central strategy towards national development.
The Education Nation, a private sector and concerned citizens’ coalition, launched a list of "10 doable things" to reform the education sector, as well as a quest for an "education president" in 2010.
Roxas stressed that government invests so little in basic education: only about 2 percent of GDP, which is less than half of the global norm. "This little investment is just put to waste because of large-scale corruption and backward policies."
The senator em-phasized that the Aquino-Roxas platform for 2010 seeks to uplift education from being "just one of many concerns, to making education the central strategy for investing in our people, reducing poverty and building national competitiveness."
"Education is a building blocks system. We will start by putting all our attention and resources in improving outcomes in Grade 1 within one year. Then Grade 2, until we fix Elementary Education in a span of six years," Roxas stressed.
Roxas is advocating for Omnibus Education Reforms through Senate Bill No. 2294 which seeks reforms in the education system to meet world standards and to improve education outcomes within ten years, including:
1. Institutionalize long term planning through rolling five-year budget plans that are consistent with quantitative and qualitative targets; 2. Mandate the use of the mother tongue as medium of instruction for Grades 1 to 3 (studies have shown that early education in the local language tends to be more effective); 3. A genuine School-Feeding Program for Grade 1 and 2 pupils in the poorest provinces and muni-cipalities that is free of corruption; 4. Imposition of performance standards through diagnostic tests at the end of Grades 3 and 6 to identify individuals who will require special learning assistance as they proceed to the next grade level; 5. Considering an increase in the years spent in basic education, from 10 to 12 as consistent with global standards;
6. Institute a two-track system in High School, with electives to equip them with the competencies needed as they decide to pursue college or to join the workforce right after graduation; 7. Intensive training and upgrading programs for teachers: a training program on teaching methods using the mother language for teachers in Grades 1 to 3; and upgrading courses for English, Science and Math teachers who are not majors in these subjects; and 8. A compulsory pre-school education year.
The bill seeks an additional P19 billion on top of the regular budget of the DepEd for it to implement these reforms.
The United Nations in its 2010 "Education For All" Global Monitoring Report, said that the Philippines is trailing Tanzania and Zambia in education outcomes, and is in "real danger" of missing its target of providing universal primary education by 2015.
Roxas Wins Youth Votes
Liberal Party vice presidential candidate and survey frontrunner Sen. Mar Roxas is clearly the choice of the youth, the recent surveys show held in various universities in the country.
Roxas had two-digit leads over his rivals in surveys conducted at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City; Centro Escolar University, Malolos, Bulacan; Holy Angels University, Pampanga; Catanduanes College, Nueva Ecija; and the Negros Oriental State University, Dumaguete City.
In UP Diliman, the Visayan senator got 4,582 votes or a 40 percent rating in the survey conducted during the period December 8 to 11, 2009. Vice presidential bets Sen. Loren Legarda (NP-NPC) got 13 percent while Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay (UNO-PMP) got 12 percent.
Roxas got a high 56 percent rating in the January 15, 2010 survey conducted in CEU-Malolos. Legarda and Binay were tied at 13 percent.
Sixty-four percent (64) or 3,688 of Holy Angels University students in Pampanga chose Roxas over Legarda, who only got 23 percent and Binay, with only 8 percent. The survey was done last January 13.
At the Catanduanes College in Nueva Ecija, a survey conducted last January 22 showed Roxas got 44.17 percent rating or (446 votes) while Legarda got 23.99 percent and Binay, 16.14 percent.
At the Negros Oriental State University, some 1,684 students or a rating of 49.17 percent picked Roxas in the survey done during the period December 7 to 11, 2009. Legarda got 22.68 percent and Binay, 15.5 percent. Lakas-Kampi-NUCD vice presidential candidate Edu Manzano’s name popped up with a rating of 12.65 percent.
Roxas is the author of Republic Act No. 9502, known as the Universally Accessible Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008, which made quality but affordable medicines more accessible to the people. /MP
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