Political will, funding needed to upgrade quality education

A HIGH-ranking United Nations (UN) official on Monday said that the Philippines needs strong education politicians to improve the quality of education.

Speaking at a forum on Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report 2012, Dr. Anwar Al-Said, head of the Education Unit of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization or Unesco, said in his report that political will is very crucial for any country to have its educational system improved and globally competitive.

“Political will is very crucial and very important. Political will is there, but this cannot work alone without money—financing,” Al-Said said.

He cited Indonesia, for instance, in which 20 percent of its national budget goes to education.

Citing the alarming figures of global education, Al-Said has urged the Philippine government to make effort in prioritizing and strategize the education priority.

“The Philippine government should respond actively on the EFA goal to make sure that it will achieve the goal by 2015. The Philippine government should choose the best strategy in improving education and should also allocate more resources for education that enable them to achieve the EFA goal.”

Al-Said also noted that he believes that Philippines and other countries can achieve the EFA goal.

“The Philippines can achieve its EFA goal. Not necessarily on 2015, but it’s on track,” Al-Said added.

The UN official, meanwhile, hailed President Benigno Aquino 3rd’s administration for pushing the K-12 Basic Education program.

“The Philippines has made a choice to move in the K to12 program. I am very happy that the Philippines has the political will to implement this K to 12 program. And this is good actually,” Al-Said noted.

While education needs a big chunk of national budget, Al-Said however noted that efficient spending of government funds is very important to achieve the quality of education and, not to squander even a small amount of money for the unimportant things.

“It is not how much money you receive but the way you spend,” Al-Said explained.

Aside from the political will, Al-Said also noted that quality of education also relies heavily on qualified teachers learning institutions have.

“Quality of education is suffering. Many teachers are not prepared to teach. Many teachers are not well equipped with the needed skills. It’s a great challenge to many member States, especially developing country like the Philippines, to produce more qualified teachers. Quality education for teachers is expensive,” he added. –NEIL A. ALCOBER REPORTER, Manila Times