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Sunday, July 03, 2005
Education chief: Arroyo apology good lesson for students
By Albert B. Lacanlale
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Education Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad said Saturday President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's apology over the wiretapped tapes controversy is a good lesson that can be taught to students.
Abad, who was guest of honor and speaker during the 1st Joint Education Summit held in the city Saturday, said students, should grasp the good example that the President displayed when she admitted owning the woman's voice in a wiretapped conversation.
The President admitted in a televised address that she talked to a Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner during the 2004 president election and asked an apology for what she called was "lapse in judgment" on her part.
"The basic rule is 'If you make a mistake, own the mistake' and that is what the President has shown," Abad said.
Abad said the President's actuation is something that can be discussed in classrooms, complementing lessons in Values Formation for the elementary and Values Education for high school.
Asked about what the DepEd expects with the implementation of the Expanded Value-Added Tax (E-VAT) law, Abad said sectors in education and social service have been promised by the President of about P30 billion of the targeted P105 billion income from E-VAT by next year.
He said only four percent of the present P112.5 billion allocation for education goes to capital outlay, which DepEd uses for various projects. Some 89 percent of the same goes to salaries and seven percent is for miscellaneous and operating expenses (MOE).
The more than P30 billion additional fund would mean more projects, he said.
Improved education system
Abad said DepEd has initiated moves to improve the country's education system.
This year, the department aims to cut by half the about 50,000-classroom shortage in the country through a two-shift arrangement in use of classrooms.
In the scheme, schoolrooms would be accommodating separate classes in the morning and in the afternoon.
Abad also said DepEd would be decongesting public high schools through an "education service contracting" program.
The program seeks to send students in congested public high schools to study in under-utilized private high schools, to arrest the 4.7-percent annual enrollment growth in public secondary schools.
This year, DepEd will be spending some P2 billion in sending close to 375,000 students from public to private schools, Abad said.
"If we can send those students in congested public high schools to private schools, then we don't need to build more classrooms," he added. (Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
Click here for a chronology of the crisis.
Click here for the transcript of Arroyo's confession.
(July 3, 2005 issue)
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