Press Release
March 13, 2007

Education must be top priority for senatorial candidatesANGARA

Senatorial contender Edgardo "Ed" Angara stressed yesterday that candidates for the Senate ought to place education on top of their political agenda in order to effectively strengthen the country's foundation for the futurethe youth.

"Government must prioritize funding support starting in June this year to achieve a level and quality of education that would benefit the youth as a whole," he said. "Rather than indulge in political bickering, as early as today, those who are running for a seat in the Senate must address the issue of reforms in education as a top priority plan."

According to Angara, in 2006, students in public schools only reached half of what they ought to have accomplished in the matter of achievement scores.

According to the latest statistics from the Department of Education (DepEd), the achievement scores of public school students studying in Grade 6 and fourth year high school in SY 2005-2006 "are far from desired."

On the basis of subject area, the achievement of public school students expressed in mean percentage scores are as follows: Grade 6 English54.05%; Math53.56%; and Sciences46.77%. Secondary scores, on the other hand, are: High school English43.73%; Math47.82%; and Sciences46.77%.

Dropout rates for the same school year in both elementary and high school have slightly improved, however, from 7.19% and 12.82% in SY 2004-2005 to 5.52% and 11.2% in SY 2005-2006, respectively. About 21% of public school students have way below normal nutritional classification status due to poverty.

"We are facing some very serious problems in education, and as parents, we must assist government in improving the learning conditions of our poor and needy youth," Angara said.

As former head of the Congressional Commission on Education, Angara launched the restructuring of the educational system by introducing the bill on GASTPE or Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education. In 2004, he upgraded the minimum salary grade level of teachers through the Expanded GASTPE Act (UP Charter of 2004).

In SY 2005-2006, about 100,000 indigent Grade Six students benefited from the program as close to 2,000 private high schools participated in GASTPE. "We still want to reach more students," Angara said.

Among the other laws Ed Angara sponsored were: Public School Teachers' Dependents Benefits; Computer Education Program Integration in Educational System; Special Program for Employment of Students; School Building Program Act of 2005; and the Student Fare Discount Act.

The senator stressed that the problems education is facing is real. "If we want to be globally competitive in the future, even now we must push for reforms in education as a continuing priority political consideration. For senatorial candidates, clear-cut solutions to this problem must become part of the political agenda," Angara concluded.

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