RP can achieve Unesco goals by 2015

EDUCATION Secretary Mona Valisno said she is confident the country can attain all the goals set by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) under the Education For All (EFA) by 2015.

Valisno, who assumed the top post at the Department of Education (DepEd) recently after the latest Cabinet re-shuffle, said the country is on the right track towards achieving its EFA goal despite difficulty in some areas.

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“Yes we can do it by 2015. We are in the right direction to attain all the goals under the EFA,” Valisno said.

The EFA has six major components that signatory-countries should meet by 2015 -- universal access to primary education; early childhood care and education; increasing adult literacy by 50 percent; improving the quality of education; achieving gender equality; and providing learning and life skills to young people.

Earlier, Unesco in its 2010 Global Monitoring Report said that the Philippines and Indonesia are in danger of missing its target of universal primary education by 2015.

The 2010 report among others said “extreme poverty and regional disparities were at the heart” of the mismatch between the Philippines’ income level and its poor educational outcomes.

It also noted low investment in the education sector.

The DepEd had requested a budget of more than P190 billion for this year to plug shortages in classrooms, teachers’ items, textbooks and other school equipment but it was granted only P172.84 billion compared to the P174 billion allocated in 2009.

It likewise pointed out the lack of a decisive leadership to provide guidance to government reforms in education.

The Global Monitoring Report (GMR) is produced annually by an independent team of UN experts and is published by the Unesco.

The report assesses the global progress towards the six EFA goals to which over 160 countries committed themselves in 2000.

Former Education chief Jesli Lapus defended then the country's education system and said DepEd has made great strides thanks to the reform measures implemented by the present and past administrations adding that it expect the participation rate to reach 95 percent by 2015.

“We are aiming to increase participation rate from the present 87 percent to 95 percent,” Lapus said, adding that the department would focus its resources and efforts to addressing the high drop-out rates in the elementary level, particularly in Grade 3.

DepEd data showed that dropout rates in Grade 3 exceeded 20 percent.

Programs to reach out-of-school-youths (OSY) will also be intensified through the Project REACH (Reaching Children) by enlisting the help of local government units and non-government organizations in identifying families whose children are not enrolled in basic education and encourage them to send their kids to school.

To compensate for the country’s archipelagic nature, the DepEd said it will strengthen the use of modern Information Communication Technology (ICT) in public schools to connect students to the global wireless world.

Currently, 4,000 out of the more than 6,000 public high schools in the country have already been connected to the Internet through DepEd and private sector initiative.

Each school has been provided with at least 10 computers and associated software and a one year free Internet subscription.

Likewise, DepEd cited the result of the 2009 National Achievement Test (NAT) given to public elementary and high school students showed a continuing upward result – from 55 percent mean percentage score in 2006 to 66 percent in 2009.

Moreover, the education department said more students are moving towards mastery level and there has been substantial drop in the number of students showing low subject mastery.

The agency also stressed that initiatives such as the no collection policy for enrolment has resulted to an increase in participation rate of 85.12 percent in school year 2008, up by almost two percent compared to 2006.

Private sector continues to invest in the public school system by contributing some P12 billion as of end 2009 through the Adopt-a-School program.

DepEd has continue to collaborate with development partners to bridge resource gaps and education disparity through such innovative projects as the Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (Beam), Strengthening the Implementation of Basic Education in the Visayas (Strive), Education Quality and Access for Learning and Livelihood Skills (Equalls), Philippine Response to Indigenous and Muslim Education (Prime), which were designed to improve access to quality education in disadvantaged communities.

For this year, DepEd said it is targeting a participation rate of 53 percent (about 900, 000) of all five-year-olds and 95 percent of then completing pre-school at the end of 2010. Participation rate of 5-year olds in 2008 is 49 percent and 51 percent this year.

Valisno said she will continue to implement the programs started by Lapus adding that continuity will be her buzzword.

“I have no reason to tinker with the implementation of DepEd programs,” Valisno said, adding that she will just improve on the initiatives during her four months stay at the department. (AH/Sunnex)