Australia earmarks P2B in aid to RP basic education

MANILA, Philippines – The Australian government has set aside some P2 billion this year for the Aquino administration’s basic education reform agenda.

The development aid is part of Canberra’s “significant ongoing support for education in the Philippines,” according to Australian Ambassador to Manila Rod Smith.

In a statement issued over the weekend Smith said, “Australia is very pleased to assist the Philippines as it faces the important challenge of reforming the basic education system to deliver better education for Filipino children.”

Smith pointed out “education has the power to transform lives and create futures.”

The envoy noted that Australia, through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) had a “long-standing partnership with the Department of Education that is improving.”

“Over the last five years, Australian aid has helped train teachers and introduced new learning and teaching strategies to encourage more students to participate and stay in school,” Smith recalled.

He said, “over 32,000 public school teachers in English, Science and Math have been trained on new teaching techniques to improve students’ results.”

Last week, the Australian Embassy in Makati City launched the “1,000 Teachers Program,” a scholarship project that would benefit “poor but outstanding high school graduates” interested in pursuing a teaching career in public schools.

The mission named two non-government groups as its partners in the program: the Philippine Business for Education and PHINMA Foundation.

According to Smith, the scholarship program aims to “encourage the best and the brightest high school students to become teachers.”

Smith called AusAID’s partnership with the private sector a “new way of delivering aid, promoting important coordination and cooperation among donors.”

“This will ensure that all our efforts complement and directly support the Philippine government’s basic education reform agenda. Working together, we will achieve better results and more Filipino children will benefit from increased access to quality education,” he said.

The scholarship program “will help strengthen the government’s teacher education and development program by increasing the number of qualified public school teachers in elementary and secondary schools.”

“In turn, improving the quality of teaching will encourage more students to stay, participate more and learn better in school,” Smith added.

AusAID earlier allocated P2 billion to its Basic Education Assistance to Mindanao, or BEAM, and another P100 million to assist the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in providing culturally sensitive preschool education services to some 50,000 children in 80 Muslim schools in the Southern Philippines.

The aid agency has been developing a “new Muslim and indigenous people-focused education program that aims to assist the government expand teacher training, develop culturally-appropriate curriculum and build more classrooms, particularly in remote areas,” said the Australian embassy.

Meanwhile, AusAID is set to conclude its six-year human resource development program in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The program, which has a budget of P2.3 billion, aims to “improve the capacity of key government and private sector institutions in addressing poverty and other development issues.”

AusAID has also provided more than P290 million to the following agencies for their peace efforts in war-torn areas in Mindanao: International Committee of the Red Cross, P140 million; UNICEF, P100 million; UN Commission for Refugees, P40 million; and the UN Department of Safety and Security, P12 million.

The aid agency also released over P280 million for the “Rollback Malaria” campaign of the Department of Health and the World Health Organization in Agusan del Sur.

AusAID’s current annual assistance to the Philippines totals more than P4.5 billion.

During the past 12 years, AusAID allocation to the country has reached nearly P30 billion, including P1.3 billion to the UN Multi-donor Program for former members of the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front and their families “who have returned to mainstream society and contributed to the peace and development efforts in Mindanao.”

The embassy described it a “clear indication of Australia’s commitment to assist the Philippines address its development challenges,” including peace in Mindanao. –Jerry E. Esplanada, Philippine Daily Inquirer