Press Release
May 19, 2009

Gordon lauds movement calling for 'Education President'

Senator Richard J. Gordon (Ind.) lauded a movement calling for an education President.

"This is a very good advocacy and calls much needed attention on the state of our public education system. We used to have the best public education system in Asia, now we've trailing far behind and have long been overtaken by neighboring Asian countries," said Gordon.

The senator said that education is a crucial factor in lifting most Filipinos out of poverty.

"We are not poor because we lack money. We are poor because we lack options and proper quality education opens up a wealth of choices to anyone who can get it," said Gordon

The senator also said that instead of mouthing empty rhetoric and pandering to the sympathies of the masses, those planning to run for President should present specific plans on how to bail out the Philippine's public education.

"It's easy to say that one is for better public education, the tough question to answer is how are they going to give people better education?" said Gordon.

The senator authored Senate Bill 2402, an Act creating the Health and Education Acceleration Program (HEAP) Corporation. The committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises, chaired by Gordon, is readying the final version of the committee report.

Called by some sectors who support it as the "TEXT FOR CHANGE bill" it envisions the creation of a fund specifically for:

� The rapid filling up of shortages in the public education system as well as the upgrading of education facilities � The implementation of a health and nutrition program for public school students � The provision of salary increases and training for public school teachers

Citing just the shortages of the public school system, Gordon pointed out that the country's public elementary and secondary schools need at least 7,087 new classrooms and an additional 2,667 new classrooms for pre-school levels in almost 43,000 public schools nationwide.

He explained that aside from classroom backlogs, public schools in the country also lack at least four million seats, 63 million textbooks, 39,000 teachers and 8,000 principals.

To fill these gaps alone, the government would need at least P15 billion, he added.

Apart from the lack of classrooms and teachers, Gordon also pointed out that there is a need to address the nutrition and health needs of public school children.

Government statistics indicated that 21% of schoolchildren are malnourished; of children ages 6-12, 11.4% are iodine deficient, 37.4% suffer iron deficiency anemia, 36% suffer vitamin A deficiency, 67% suffer intestinal helminthiasis, and 97% have dental caries.

Public schools lack health manpower with only 154 medical officers, 617 school dentists, 3,254 school nurses, 570 dental aides, and 32 nutritionist-dieticians for the more than 17 million public school students in the country. The country's current health personnel-student ratio is at one medical officer is to 80,000 students; one school dentist is to 20,000 students; and one school nurse is to 5,000 students.

Gordon pointed out that while on one hand, the country's public education system has been suffering from a crippling number of inadequacies for decades, the telecommunications industry has grown by leaps and bounds within the same period.

From just 30,000 subscribers in the 1990s, there are now 72 million cellular phone users.

"These telecom companies grew exponentially because of the millions of Filipinos who used their services. It is just right that they give back in a manner substantial enough that it will end our problems with public education," said Gordon.

Under the HEAP proposal, telcos would remit a portion of their total revenues arising from local text messaging to the HEAP Corporation, which would spearhead the rehabilitation and improvement of health and education infrastructures in the country.

"There are approximately two billion text messages sent a day. If we get 10 percent, that would be P200 million a day and P73 billion a year. That is more than enough to fill up all the gaps in health and education infrastructure in a year's time," he said.

He stressed that the money remitted to the HEAP corporation proposed in SB 2402 will basically come from the people themselves and it is a way of empowering the people to realize major changes in their lives.

"This proposed law is in line with our chief advocacies of citizens taking greater responsibility and taking action to solve national problems.. It is a direct way for people to help themselves to get better education for their children, with every text message they send they are investing in a better future for everyone," said Gordon.

To make certain that the HEAP corporation lives up to its mandate, SB 2402 mandates that representatives of private educational institutions as well as the Secretary of the Department of Education will sit as members of the board. Moreover, the board will also include as members the ranking officials of Parents Teachers Associations, consumer groups, and citizens groups.

It will also have its programs and projects available for scrutiny on line, with periodic and timely reports on the disbursements made.

"HEAP will enable us to make a LEAP, a major departure from the current state of our public education system. From being a laggard in education, we will match the education standards found in more progressive countries," said Gordon.

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